I am entitled to quote from or refer to the articles of which my honourable Friend Dr. Ambedkar gave notice in the last session and they are printed on the last but one page of Volume I of the Printed amendments. If I say anything that is incorrect, my honourable Friend Dr. Ambedkar will certainly be able to refute me but I do not see why I should not refer to an amendment given notice of by him that appears to me to be quite sound. Dr. Ambedkar has not told us why he has departed from the phraseology of his earlier amendments. They provided that while the appointment of District Judges should be under the control of the Governor, their promotion and transfer should be under the control of the High Court. Now, in my opinion it is necessary that the High Court should have control over all those officers who are concerned with the judicial administration. District Judges are judicial officers. There is no reason, therefore, why control in respect of their transfer and promotion should not be made over to the High Court. I think that if High Courts are made responsible for this, the judicial administration will improve. We have found repeatedly in the past that the absence of control by the High Courts over the posting and the promotion of District judges has weakened their authority and weakened also the judicial administration. The District Judges feeling that the High Court had no control over them, generally looked up to the executive. I do not mean to say that no District Judge paid any regard to the provisions of the law, or that the District Judges as a rule decided cases in accordance with the convenience of the executive. But any lawyer that we might consult would, I think, tell us that demands had been repeatedly made by associations representing various parties that District Judges should be placed under the control of the High Court. They had gone so far as to ask that their appointment too should rest with the High Court. I have not gone so far. My amendment is a conservative one. All that it seeks to achieve is that District judges should be transferred and promoted by the High Court in the same way as subordinate judge would be.
