Paradoxes of India's state system defies all logic. The NaMO administration has, unofficially, imposed an age ceiling of 75 on its MPs and MLAs as well as Ministers. Whatever one may say, it's a good start - because somewhere the process had to start. Further, even civil servant, however high and mighty they be, who have less than one year of service, is not even empanelled to hold secretary rank posts in Govt of India. But the Judiciary has its own fiefdom and it makes rules that may be applicable to others but not to them. Take, for instance, the cases of appointment of chief justices of High Courts. Even if a judge has only 30-40 days to retire, he/she can be appointed as a Chief Justice. But look at the travesty. The first woman chief justice of the Manipur high court, Abhilasha Kumari, who took oath on February 09, will retire on February 22. Similarly, justice Tarun Agarwala, who took oath as the chief justice of Meghalaya HC on February 12, will complete his term on March 02. Further, Justice Antony Dominic, Chief Justice of Kerala HC, was appointed on February 06 and he is scheduled to retire on May 29. The three are among five chief justices of high courts whose names were cleared by the Supreme Court collegium on January 10. It may be mentioned that five HCs - Telangana & AP, Calcutta, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, and HP-are currently headed by acting chief justices. Appointments of chief justices of these five HCs are yet to be notified even though the SC collegium had already cleared the names on January 10. Bombay and Jharkhand High Courts too are functioning under acting chief justices but the SC collegium is yet to take a call. To deal with the perennial problem of discrepancies in the appointment of CJs, former law minister Veerappa Moily had written to the CJI in June 2010, advising him to ensure that only those judges are appointed as chief justices who had more than six months of service left. But the suggestion was conveniently dumped and the issue never again popped up in the minds of great judges who tend to moralize and act as holier than thou, even while holding the view that no one is above law. What a travesty! Further, it is mandatory that the posts of Chief Justice should not remain vacant even for a single day. The reality is, however, exactly the opposite and contrary to established practices. Half a dozen posts of CJs are said to have been lying vacant for months and are being run with the stop-gap arrangement. The SC has mandated that the process of filing up judges' vacancies should begin six months ahead of the vacancy but it has failed to implement its own timelines in the matter. Does this bring any credit to the SC? What can one do if the SC discredits itself? (By Rakesh Ranjan and M K Shukla)