Niti Aayog in its recent report ‘Strategy for New India@75’ proposed that An all-India judicial services examination on a ranking basis can be considered to maintain high standards in the judiciary. The selection process may be entrusted to the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) for a cadre of lower judiciary judges (first induction level), Indian Legal Service (both centre and states), prosecutors, legal advisors, and legal draftsmen. This will attract young and bright law graduates and help build a new cadre that can enhance accountability in the governance system. Continuing training may be introduced to ensure development of skills, ethics, knowledge and awareness of international best practices.
Niti Aaayog also proposed that Multi-faceted training faculty for judicial academies including reputed lawyers, successful NGOs and others, for holistic exposure may be considered. Training modules should be live streamed on an e-platform to make information easily accessible, and widely disseminated.
The reports suggests to consider a performance index for judges and a separate state wise index for ease of getting justice, Introduce an administrative cadre in the judicial system to streamline processes. To maintain judicial independence, the cadre should report to the Chief Justice in each High Court. Prioritize court process automation and ICT enablement for electronic court and case management, including electronic management of court schedules and migration of all courts to the unified national court application
software and also laid stress on facilitating the availability and usage of videoconferencing facilities to assist in speedy access to justice and to minimize logistical issues. At present, even the available video conferencing facilities are not utilized optimally.
The government has in the past proposed an all-India judicial service. But nine high courts have opposed the proposal to have an all-India service for the lower judiciary. Eight others have sought changes in the proposed framework and only two have supported the idea.