Four posts of judges are vacant in the Supreme Court and three High Courts are being run without regular Chief Justices. Government sources say that the law ministry is waiting to get the recommendations of the Supreme Court Collegium to fill these posts.
His position in the Supreme Court has been vacant since Justice Ranjan Gogoi retired as Chief Justice in November 2019. Apart from this, Justice Deepak Gupta, Justice R Bhanumathi, and Justice Arun Mishra have also retired from their posts. His place is also lying vacant. The sanctioned strength of judges in the Supreme Court is 34 while only 30 judges are working.
The Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Guwahati High Courts are without regular Chief Justices. The day-to-day proceedings of the High Courts are not affected, so the acting Chief Justice has been appointed in the absence of the Chief Justice.
A senior official said that no recommendation has been received from the collegium to fill these vacancies in the Supreme Court and three High Courts so far. Vacancies in courts are increasing due to retirements, resignations, or promotions of judges.
As per the procedure for appointment of judges in the Supreme Court and 25 High Courts across the country, the Supreme Court recommends collegium names to the government. In response, the government accepts the names or returns the collegium to reconsider the names.
The collegium consists of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and the four most senior judges. The sanctioned strength of judges is 1079 in 25 High Courts. As of October 1 this year, these high courts had 404 vacancies. The maximum 60 vacancies are in the Allahabad High Court.