The Central Government has approved 61 of 127 fresh names recommended by the Supreme Court Collegium for appointment in higher judiciary from December 2021 to July 2022.
The Collegium has recommended 140 names (127 fresh and 13 reiterated). Out of 127 fresh recommendations, 61 appointments have been made including extension of term of one Additional Judge, Minister of Law and Justice Kiran Rijiju said in Lok Sabha.
Responding to the questions of Kalyan Banerjee and Balashorwy Vallabhaneni, Rijiju said, “66 cases which have been recommended by Supreme Court Collegium are at various stages of processing with the government.”
He further informed that 13 proposals were reiterated, of which eight appointments have been made.
In an annexure to another question on the vacancies in higher courts, the Law Ministry listed the number of vacancies in the High Courts. It said posts of 194 permanent judges and 185 additional judges were lying vacant across High Courts in the country.
The largest number of vacancies are in the Allahabad High Court with total 69 vacancies of which 40 are permanent judge posts with 29 vacancies for additional judges. They were followed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court (39), the Bombay High Court (31), Calcutta High Court (26), Gujarat High Court (24), the Rajasthan High Court (22) and the Madhya Pradesh High Court (20).