Understaffed judiciary: One-third of judges’ posts in High Courts are lying vacant

NEW DELHI:  With the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, India’s judicial system struggled and adapted itself to meet the challenges of functioning under the ‘new normal’.

But in the process, the task of filling up vacancies, especially at the high courts, seems to have taken a back seat.

Since May, the number of vacant posts of judges across various high courts has gone up which, in turn, could have a direct bearing on pendency of cases.

More than one-third of 1,079 sanctioned posts of judges in the 25 high courts of India are currently vacant. 

The SC has a sanctioned strength of 34 judges out of which four posts are currently vacant.

The SC Collegium responsible for making recommendations for filling these vacancies has not made any since current CJI SA Bobde took charge in November 2019.

In the HCs, there had been a marginal decline in overall vacancies since Bobde assumed charge.

But after the Covid-induced lockdown, vacancies started increasing again. In January last year, there were 400 vacancies in various high courts.

The number saw a decline in May 2019 but rose to 420 vacancies in November last year.

It again recorded a decline in May this year, when there were 380 vacancies, but went upwards thereafter and is currently 404.

The vacancy is increasing as HCs are apparently not sending names to the Collegium for appointment timely. The delay is causing immense pressure on the justice delivery system.

At least 12 HCs are functioning with less than two-thirds of their sanctioned strength. Of these, three high courts – Patna, Rajasthan and Calcutta – have more than 50% vacancy. The Patna HC is at the top of the list with 56.6% vacancy. 

A look at the data from January 2019 till October 2020 indicates that the vacancies in high courts start increasing when the tenure of the Chief Justice of India reaches its end as the rate of appointment of judges slows down.