How many posts of judges are vacant in the country? Understand why the situation is better in the High Court in southern states.

New Delhi: Why is it that the high courts of the southern states have managed to reduce the vacancy of judges to 4% of their sanctioned strength, whereas in high courts in other parts of the country it is as high as 49%? Analysis by our associate newspaper The Times of India shows that constitutional courts in southern states have bucked the trend of having a larger number of permanent vacancies for judges compared to their counterparts in other states. For example, the Kerala High Court on November 1 It has succeeded in reducing the vacant posts of judges till 4%, which is the lowest among all the major High Courts. Other high courts in the region like Madras High Court have reduced it to 11% and Karnataka High Court to 19%.

High Court with highest number of vacancies

On the contrary, 49% of the posts of judges in Allahabad High Court, which is the largest High Court of the country, are vacant. This is the highest among all the 25 High Courts. The situation is similar in other places also. While 42% posts are vacant in Orissa HC, it is followed by Calcutta at 40%, Punjab and Haryana, Delhi and Gujarat at 38% each and Bombay at 27%.

After all, what is the root of the problem?

The issue of vacant posts of judges is a long-standing problem for both the higher judiciary and the government. One of the reasons often cited for not finding suitable candidates is that eminent lawyers are not ready to join the bench because they do not find the salary to work ratio appropriate. The second factor that probably explains why the southern states have been successful in reducing vacancies in the High Courts to a great extent is the timely recommendations by the Collegium regarding the appointment of judges.

judge appointment deadline

As per the rules, the Chief Justice of the concerned High Court has to initiate a proposal to promote an advocate or a district judge as a High Court judge at least six months before the vacancy occurs. However, this deadline is rarely followed. The Law Minister had said this in a written reply to a question of Parliament during the last monsoon session.

The Law Minister had further said that till July 19, the government had received only 219 recommendations. These were in various stages of processing, while the posts of 357 judges were vacant. For the remaining 138 vacant posts, no recommendation was made by the collegium of the concerned High Court.

How is the final appointment of judges done?

Although recommendations are made by a collegium of three senior most judges of the respective High Court, the final appointment is made with the approval of the Supreme Court Collegium after an independent investigation by the IB. As of November 1, 352 posts of judges were vacant in the 25 High Courts of the country, which is 32% of their sanctioned strength of 1,114.