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Calling the appointment of judges “a continuous and collaborative process” between the Executive and the Judiciary, Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal on Thursday informed the Rajya Sabha that 324 of the 1,114 sanctioned posts of High Court judges were vacant and the Government is in the process of filling up 122 of these.
Replying to a question by Congress MP Shaktisinh Gohil on the vacancies in the judiciary, Meghwal said the Supreme Court was functioning with its full sanctioned strength of 34. “As regards the High Courts,” he said, “against the sanctioned strength of 1,114 judges, 790 judges are working and 324 posts of judges are vacant.”
He said that of the total 292 proposals from different HC Collegiums this year, 110 judges had been appointed, 60 recommendations had been remitted to the High Courts on the advice of the Supreme Court Collegium and, as on December 4, 122 proposals were “at various stages of processing”.
For the remaining vacancies, the Government is yet to receive recommendations from the respective HC Collegiums, he said.
In his written reply, calling the appointment of judges a continuous and collaborative process between the Executive and Judiciary, Meghwal said: “The Chief Justice of the High Court is required to initiate the proposal to fill up the vacancy of a HC judge six months prior to the occurrence of vacancy. However, this timeline is often not adhered to by the High Courts.”
“All the names recommended by the High Court Collegium are sent with the views of the Government to the Supreme Court Collegium for advice. Government, however, appoints only those persons as judges of High Courts who are recommended by SC Collegium,” he said.
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