Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 9

In one of the biggest jumps, the Bench strength of a high court, the number of judges in the Telangana High Court has been increased “with immediate effect” from 24 to 42 judges after the Centre agreed to it.

The decision is aimed at dealing with huge pendency of cases in the Telangana High Court where 2.37 lakh cases await disposal.

Out of 42 judges, 32 will be Permanent Judges and 10 will be Additional Judges, a Supreme Court release announced. Twentyeight of the judges will be from the Bar quota and the rest 14 will be judicial officers promoted under service category, it said.

The proposal to increase the Bench strength of Telangana High Court – which had been pending for approval with the Centre since February 2019 – was revived by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana after he took over as the CJI on April 24 this year, it stated.

The CJI took up various issues of judiciary with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad who “readily agreed to get the matters examined expeditiously”, including the proposal to raise the Bench strength of the high court, it said.

With the CJI Ramana endorsing the proposal on June 8, decks have been cleared for issuing a formal notification in this regard by the Ministry of Law and Justice.

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