Too many vacancies, send names in 2 weeks: Govt to CJs

Given the high vacancies of judges in the Supreme Court and High Courts, Law Minister H R Bharadwaj has taken the unprecedented step of givi...

Given the high vacancies of judges in the Supreme Court and High Courts, Law Minister H R Bharadwaj has taken the unprecedented step of giving Chief Justices two weeks to send their recommendations—in one ‘‘consolidated proposal (not piecemeal)’’—for filling up current as well as anticipated vacancies. He has an added request: “due consideration” for women candidates and those from backward classes, minorities and SC/STs.

In individual two-page letters sent out earlier this week, the Law Minister has apprised the Chief Justices of the vacancy position in the apex court and in each of their 21 High Courts.

There are four vacancies in the Supreme Court and as many as 141 in the High Courts with Calcutta (21), Madras (20), Allahabad (14), Punjab and Haryana (11) topping the list.

On more women judges, the note reads: “The representation of women in higher judiciary and High Courts needs to be increased and therefore, due consideration may be given to women candidates while sending your recommendations.’’

The Law Minister has also informed the Chief Justices that this exercise is crucial given that the next review of strength of judges—held every three years—is due next year. ‘‘For the purpose of performing this duty, the average institution and pendency of main cases during the last five years is considered taking into account the national average or the rate of disposal of main cases per judge per year in that High Court whichever is higher. This criteria can only be effective when all vacancies in the High Court are full and with realistic case disposal per judge per year is available,’’ Bharadwaj has said.

Ritu Sarin

Ritu Sarin is Executive Editor (News and Investigations) at The Indian Express group. Her areas of specialisation include internal security, money laundering and corruption. Sarin is one of India’s most renowned reporters and has a career in journalism of over four decades. She is a member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) since 1999 and since early 2023, a member of its Board of Directors. She has also been a founder member of the ICIJ Network Committee (INC). She has, to begin with, alone, and later led teams which have worked on ICIJ’s Offshore Leaks, Swiss Leaks, the Pulitzer Prize winning Panama Papers, Paradise Papers, Implant Files, Fincen Files, Pandora Papers, the Uber Files and Deforestation Inc. She has conducted investigative journalism workshops and addressed investigative journalism conferences with a specialisation on collaborative journalism in several countries. ... Read More

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