Effigy Burnt To Demand All India Judicial Service

New Delhi, Aug 17 (UNI) An effigy symbolising Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Law and Justice Minister Hans Raj Bhardwaj and India's higher judiciary was set on fire at Jantar Mantar today to protest failure to set up an All India Judicial Service.

''We shall fight this existing monopoly to the bitter end,'' said Samajik Nyaya Sangram Samiti president Kesri Singh Gujjar, who led the demonstration and plans to stage it every day of the ongoing session of Parliament.

He said the monopoly sought to be ended was the alleged control of 160 families on the higher judiciary of this nation of more than a billion people.

Here are some of the slogans protesters chanted: -- Savindhan ki dhara, teen sau barah, lagu karo, lagu karo; -- Akhil Bharatiya Nyayik Seva, gathan karo, gathan karo; -- Manmohan Singh, hosh mein aao, hosh mein aao; -- Hans Raj Bhardwaj, murdabad, murdabad; ''We have waited for more than three decades. How long ?'' Gujjar said, counting from 1976 when Article 312 was incorporated in the constitution as part of the 42nd amendment.

Article 312 provides for creation of an all-India judicial service common to the Union and the States to regulate district judges' recruitment and service conditions.

The first Law Commission-- shortly after independence-- had recommended creating an AIJS ''in the interest of efficiency of the subordinate judiciary.'' Over the decades, the idea has received support from many quarters but remained mired in inter-state-and-high-court debate.

As the Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution noted in 2001, ''opposition to this idea from several High Courts and State Governments has not abated.'' The 1999 Pay Commission headed by former Supreme Court Judge K Jagannatha Shetty made several key suggestions.

-- Constituting AIJS only in District Judges' cadre.

-- Direct recruitment by National Judicial Commission or Union Public Service Commission and promotion by High Courts.

-- Letting Service Judges compete for recruitment to AIJS.

-- Direct recruitment of up to 25 per cent District Judges in every State.

-- Setting 35-45 years age limit for recruitment to AIJS.

-- The selection procedure include written examination and viva voce.

-- Recruits undergo prescribed training.

-- Observe All India seniority as per the ranking in selection list.

As the effigy went up in smoke, Gujjar said that ''since 1950, about 160 families in this country of 110 crores of people have monopolised the higher judiciary.'' He said the Constitution was amended in 1976, ''but the government has not bothered to implement it so far.'' Gujjar called on the legal fraternity to join in the ''indefinite agitation'' which he said will be repeated all over India.

UNI