83 posts of HC judges filled, 406 still vacant

Satya Prakash

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 5

Despite the appointment of 83 judges to various high courts across India in October, 406 posts of judge in high courts remain vacant against a sanctioned strength of 1,098 judges.

According to an updated vacancy position released by the Department of Justice on November 1, 2021, Delhi, Calcutta and Patna High Courts continue to function with judges almost half their respective sanctioned strength.

While the Delhi High Court has 29 vacancies against a sanctioned strength of 60 judges, the Patna High Court and the Calcutta High Court have 27 and 36 vacancies against a sanctioned strength of 53 and 72 judges, respectively.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court — where 10 judges were appointed in October — is functioning with 50 judges against a sanctioned strength of 85 judges.

The J&K and Ladakh High Court and the Himachal Pradesh High Court had six and three vacancies against a sanctioned strength of 17 and 13, respectively.

At the beginning of October, the total judicial vacancies in various high courts stood at 471 and with the appointment of 83 judges, the number should have come down to 388 judges. But due to the retirement of 18 judges, vacancies could be brought down only to 406.

The Allahabad high Court — the largest high court in India — has 64 vacancies against a sanctioned strength of 160 judges, while the vacancy figures at the High Courts of Bombay (34 against a sanctioned strength of 94), Madras (15 against a sanctioned strength of 75, Rajasthan (21 a sanctioned strength of 50), Andhra Pradesh (17 a sanctioned strength of 37) and Madhya Pradesh (23 a sanctioned strength of 53) were also not good.

Interestingly, high courts of North-Eastern states at Gauhati, Manipur, Sikkim and Tripura have zero vacancies, while Meghalaya High Court has just one vacancy.