Amidst mounting pendency of cases, 32% posts of judges remain vacant in 22 High Courts

Justice delayed is Justice Denied. This age old saying seems to aptly fit on the present scene of ever mounting judicial pendency in different courts of the country. A major reason for the pendency is the vacant posts of judges in different high courts of the country.

As per a recent statement by Minister of State (independent charge), Ministry of Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal, though the Supreme Court was functioning with full strength of 34 judges as on July 19, 2024, in different High Courts of the country, against the sanctioned strength of1114 Judges including 840 permanent and 274 additional, 757 Judges including 658 permanent and 99 additional were working while 357 posts of Judges including 182 permanent and 175 additional were vacant.

Vacant post of Judges in 22 High Courts

As per the data of vacancy of Judges in different high courts of the country made available by Meghwal, the Allahabad High Court had the maximum of 76 vacancies against a sanctioned strength of 160 judges including 119 Permanent Judges and 41 Additional Judges. In the top 10 list of high courts of the country with maximum vacant posts of judges, the Punjab & Haryana High Court had the second highest count of 30 vacancies against sanctioned strength of 85 while Bombay High Court had the third highest count of 28 vacancies against sanctioned strength of 94.

Further, other high courts on the list with maximum vacant post of judges include Calcutta High Court (28), Gujarat High Court (23), Delhi High Court (21), Patna High Court (19), Rajasthan High Court (17), Telangana High Court (14) and Orissa High Court (13) respectively.

Vacancies in remaining high courts of the country include Madras High Court (12), Karnataka High Court (12), Andhra Pradesh High Court (8), Kerala High Court (8), Chattisgarh High Court (7), Gauhati High Court (6), Jharkhand High Court (6), Himachal Pradesh High Court (5), Uttarakhand High Court (4), Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court (2) besides Manipur High Court (1).

Collegium Proposals

As on July 19, 2024, informed the minister, a total of 219 proposals for appointment of Judges were received from various High Court Collegiums which were at various stages of processing. Out of these 219 proposals, 90 proposals were sent to the Supreme Court Collegium (SCC) for seeking advice against which the SCC provided advice on 82 proposals which were at various stages of processing.

Also 129 fresh proposals received recently were being processed for seeking advice of the SCC. The recommendations were yet to be received from High Court Collegiums in respect of the remaining 138 vacancies. Further, five proposals for transfer of Judges were under consideration of the Government.

Appointment of SC and HC Judges

Judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts were appointed under Article124, 217 and 224 of the Constitution of India and according to the procedure laid down in the Memorandum of Procedure (MoP) prepared in 1998 pursuant to the Supreme Court Judgment of October 6, 1993 (Second Judges case) read with their Advisory Opinion of October 28, 1998 (Third Judges case).

Memorandum of Procedure

As per the Minister of State (independent charge), Ministry of Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal, in accordance to MoP, initiation of proposal for appointment of Judges in the High Courts vests with the Chief Justice of the concerned High Court. Chief Justice of the High Court was required to initiate the proposal to fill up vacancy of a High Court Judge six months prior to the occurrence of vacancy. However, this timeline is often not adhered to by the High Courts. All the names recommended by High Court Collegium were sent with the views of the Government to the Supreme Court Collegium (SCC) for advice. Only those persons are appointed as Judges of High Courts, who are recommended by SCC.
Appointment of Judges in the High Court was a continuous, integrated and collaborative process, involving approval from various Constitutional Authorities.

Transfer of Judges

The proposal for transfer of High Court Judges is initiated by the Chief Justice of India, in consultation with four senior most Judges of the Supreme Court.
All transfers are to be made in public interest i.e. for promoting better administration of justice throughout the country. No timeline has been prescribed in the MoP for transfer of judges from one High Court to another.

Top 10 High Courts with maximum vacancies of judges