Lok Sabha Question No. 1678 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-02-11
Subject: Sanctioned Posts of Judges in High Court
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: Ashok Kumar Rawat, Arun Kumar Sagar

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE

## DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. †1678

## TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 11.02.2022

## Sanctioned Posts of Judges in High Court

## †1678. SHRI ASHOK KUMAR RAWAT: SHRI ARUN KUMAR SAGAR:

Will the Minister of LAW AND JUSTICE be pleased to state:

- (a) the respective number of sanctioned posts of judges in the State High Courts along with the posts lying vacant and time since when the same posts have been lying vacant;
- (b) the reasons for not filling up the vacant posts of judges so far;
- (c) whether  the  Government  proposes  to  increase  the  number  of  sanctioned posts of judges in High Courts in order to reduce the pendency of cases in these Courts, if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor; and
- (d) whether  hearing  of  cases  in  the  High  Courts  is  getting  delayed  due  to inadequate number of judges in the High Courts, if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF LAW AND JUSTICE

## (SHRI KIREN RIJIJU)

(a) to (b) : Judges of various High Courts are appointed as per the procedure laid down  in  the  Memorandum  of  Procedure  (MoP)  prepared  in  1998  pursuant  to theSupreme Court Judgment of October 6, 1993 (Second Judges case) read with their  Advisory  Opinion  of  October  28,  1998  (Third  Judges  case).    As  per  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  is required  to  initiate  the  proposal  tofill  up  of  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.A  statement  showing  High  Court  wise  vacancy position as on 07.02.2022 is at Annexure .

As  on  07.02.2022,  against  the  sanctioned  strength  of  1098  Judges  in  the High  Courts,  687  Judges  are  in  position,  leaving  411  vacancies  of  Judges  to  be filled.  At present, 172 proposals are at various stages of processing between the Government  and  the  Supreme  Court  Collegium.  Further  recommendations  from High  Court  Collegiums  are  yet  to  be  received  in  respect  of  remaining  239 vacancies in High Courts.

While filling up of vacancies in the High Courts is a continuous, integrated and  collaborative process requiring consultation and  approval  from  various constitutional  authorities,  vacancies  keep  on  arising  on  account  of  retirement, resignation  or  elevation  of  Judges.Government  is  committed  to  filling  up  of vacancy expeditiously in time-bound manner.

(c) to (d) : The sanctioned strength  of Judges of High Court has increased from 906 in 2014 to 1098 in 2021. However, it may be mentioned that the pendency of cases in courts is not only dueto shortage of judges in High Courts but also due to various other factors like (i) increase in number of state and central legislations, (ii) accumulation  of  first  appeals,  (iii)  continuation  of  ordinary  civil  jurisdiction  in some of the High Courts, (iv) appeals against orders of quasi-judicial forums going to High Courts, (v) number of revisions/appeals, (vi) frequent adjournments, (vii) indiscriminate  use  of  writ    jurisdiction,    (viii)  lack  of  adequate  arrangement  to monitor, tracking and bunching of cases for hearing, (ix) vacation period of Courts, (x) assigning work ofadministrative nature to the Judges, etc.

*****

Statement referred to in reply to parts (a) to (b) of Unstarred Question No. 1678 to be answered in Lok Sabha on 11.02.2022 regarding 'Sanctioned Posts of Judges in High Court' byShri Ashok Kumar Rawat and Shri Arun Kumar Sagar, Hon'ble Members of Parliament (Lok Sabha).

| Sl. No.   | Name of the High Court   |   Vacancy position as on 07.02.2022 |
|-----------|--------------------------|-------------------------------------|
| 1         | Allahabad                |                                  67 |
| 2         | Andhra Pradesh           |                                  17 |
| 3         | Bombay                   |                                  34 |
| 4         | Calcutta                 |                                  33 |
| 5         | Chhattisgarh             |                                  09 |
| 6         | Delhi                    |                                  30 |
| 7         | Gauhati                  |                                  01 |
| 8         | Gujarat                  |                                  20 |
| 9         | Himachal Pradesh         |                                  04 |
| 10        | J &Kand Ladakh           |                                  04 |
| 11        | Jharkhand                |                                  05 |
| 12        | Karnataka                |                                  17 |
| 13        | Kerala                   |                                  08 |
| 14        | Madhya Pradesh           |                                  24 |
| 15        | Madras                   |                                  15 |
| 16        | Manipur                  |                                  01 |
| 17        | Meghalaya                |                                  01 |
| 18        | Orissa                   |                                  09 |
| 19        | Patna                    |                                  27 |
| 20        | Punjab& Haryana          |                                  36 |
| 21        | Rajasthan                |                                  22 |
| 22        | Sikkim                   |                                   0 |
| 23        | Telangana                |                                  23 |
| 24        | Tripura                  |                                   0 |
| 25        | Uttarakhand              |                                  04 |
| Total     | Total                    |                                 411 |