Status on Appointment of Judges in the High Courts

Shri Kiren Rijiju, Union Minister, Ministry of Law and Justice has informed that A Statement showing the details of appointment of Judges to the High Courts during the last four yearsis enclosed herewith as Annexure-A. Appointment of Judges of High Courts is made under Articles 217 and 224 of the Constitution of India which do not provide for reservation for any caste or class of person. Hence no caste/category wise data is maintained centrally.

Against the sanctioned strength of 1104 Judges in the High Courts, 700 Judges are working in the High Courts leaving 404 vacancies. The current strength of Judges in the High Courts and details of vacant positions is enclosed at Annexure-B. At present, 171 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 233 vacancies in High Courts.

Filling up of vacancies in the High Courts is a continuous, integrated and collaborative process between the Executive and the Judiciary. It requires consultation and approval from various Constitutional Authorities both at the State and Centre level.While every effort is made to fill up the existing vacancies expeditiously; vacancies of Judges in High Courts do keep onarising on account of retirement, resignation or elevation of Judges and also due to increase in the strength of Judges.

ANNEXURE-A

                     

S. No.	High Courts	Number of Appointments during the past four years				Total
		2018	2019	2020	2021
1	Allahabad	28	10	04	17	59
2	Andhra Pradesh	–	02	07	02	11
3	Bombay	04	11	04	06	25
4	Calcutta	11	06	01	08	26
5	Chhattisgarh	04	–	–	03	07
6	Delhi	05	04	–	02	11
7	Gauhati	02	04	–	06	12
8	Gujarat	04	03	07	07	21
9	Himachal Pradesh	–	02	–	01	03
10	J & K and Ladakh	02	–	05	02	09
11	Jharkhand	03	02	–	04	09
12	Karnataka	12	10	10	06	38
13	Kerala	04	01	06	12	23
14	Madhya Pradesh	08	02	–	08	18
15	Madras	08	01	10	05	24
16	Manipur	–	–	01	–	01
17	Meghalaya	01	01	–	–	02
18	Orissa	01	01	02	04	08
19	Patna	–	04	–	06	10
20	Punjab& Haryana	07	10	01	06	24
21	Rajasthan	–	03	06	08	17
22	Sikkim	–	–	–	–	–
23	Telangana	–	03	01	07	11
24	Tripura	01	–	01	–	02
25	Uttarakhand	03	01	–	–	04
	Total	108	81	66	120	375

 

 

ANNEXURE-B

(As on 11.03.2022)

Details of Sanctioned Strength, Working strength and Vacancies across various High Courts

		Sanctioned Strength			Working Strength			Vacancy
B.	High Court	Pmt.	Addl	Total	Pmt.	Addl	Total	Pmt.	Addl	Total
1	Allahabad	120	40	160	74	19	93	46	21	67
2	Andhra Pradesh	28	9	37	26	0	26	2	9	11
3	Bombay	71	23	94	51	7	58	20	16	36
4	Calcutta	54	18	72	31	8	39	23	10	33
5	Chhattisgarh	17	5	22	10	3	13	7	2	9
6	Delhi	45	15	60	34	0	34	11	15	26
7	Gauhati	18	6	24	17	6	23	1	0	1
8	Gujarat	39	13	52	32	0	32	7	13	20
9	Himachal Pradesh	10	3	13	8	1	9	2	2	4
10	J & K and Ladakh	13	4	17	13	0	13	0	4	4
11	Jharkhand	19	6	25	19	1	20	0	5	5
12	Karnataka	47	15	62	39	6	45	8	9	17
13	Kerala	35	12	47	27	12	39	8	0	8
14	Madhya Pradesh	40	13	53	35	0	35	5	13	18
15	Madras	56	19	75	44	15	59	12	4	16
16	Manipur	4	1	5	3	1	4	1	0	1
17	Meghalaya	3	1	4	3	0	3	0	1	1
18	Orissa	24	9	33	21	0	21	3	9	12
19	Patna	40	13	53	25	0	25	15	13	28
20	Punjab& Haryana	64	21	85	43	6	49	21	15	36
21	Rajasthan	38	12	50	26	0	26	12	12	24
22	Sikkim	3	0	3	3	0	3	0	0	0
23	Telangana	32	10	42	19	0	19	13	10	23
24	Tripura	4	1	5	5	0	5	-1	1	0
25	Uttarakhand	9	2	11	7	0	7	2	2	4
	Total	833	271	1104	615	85	700	218	186	404