The Supreme Court, majority of whose 2,200-strong employees hail from northern India, has decided to cast its net wide to make its administrative wing “pan-Indian”.

Plans are afoot to recruit more personnel from the east, the Northeast, the south and the west without discriminating against candidates from the north, sources said.

Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi is understood to have taken a formal decision in this regard after consulting several senior judges such as Justices S.A. Bobde, N.V. Ramana to launch a recruitment drive to fill various posts in the administrative wing.

Almost 70 per cent of the 2,200 employees now are from the northern states such as Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, a source said.

“It is the Supreme Court of India and must necessarily have a pan-India outlook even in terms of the candidates it recruits,” a source quoted the Chief Justice as telling a meeting of senior officials of the registry and some judges.

At present, the court’s employees are recruited through advertisements published in two to three leading newspapers in the national capital.

As a result, the information on vacancies is largely confined to aspirants living in the National Capital Region.

Sources told The Telegraph that Justice Gogoi had resolved that henceforth, candidates would be recruited from non-northern states, too, by breaking a nearly two-decade-old practice.

The Chief Justice had issued instructions to the secretary-general of Supreme Court, Sanjeev S. Kalgaonkar, and other registry staff that in future all high courts across the country should be informed well in advance of the impending vacancies in the top court.

Once the high courts are intimated, it will be the duty of the respective high courts to issue the necessary advertisements in at least three to four local newspapers so that all eligible candidates have a chance to apply.

Besides seeking the assistance of various high courts, CJI Gogoi had also decided to constitute a separate security wing in the Supreme Court. The wing would draw trained personnel from the CBI, the Intelligence Bureau and Delhi police to verify the antecedents of all candidates before they are recruited.

This is being done to ensure that vested interests do not gain access to the registry.