Question : Vacant Posts in Courts

(a) the sanctioned strength of Judges in the Supreme Court and various High Courts at present in the country, court-wise along with the total number of judges appointed in these courts during each of the last three years and current year;

(b) whether number of posts of judges are lying vacant in different High Courts and Supreme Court across the country, State-wise and bench-wise;

(c) if so, the time since when these posts are lying vacant along with the reasons therefor;

(d) whether the Government promised to fill up all vacant posts within a time-frame and if so, the reason behind not fulfilling the commitment and the present status of vacancies therefor; and

(e) whether the Government has set any time-frame to appoint adequate number of judges at the earliest in all the courts of the country to provide speedy justice to the citizen and reduce the number of pending cases?

ANSWER

MINISTER OF LAW AND JUSTICE, COMMUNICATIONS AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

(SHRI RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD)


(a) to (e): A Statement showing Sanctioned strength, Working Strength and Vacancies of Judges and total number of Judges appointed during 2016 to 2019 ( till 20.11.2019) in the Supreme Court of India and the High Courts is at Annexure.
As per the Memorandum of Procedure (MoP), initiation of proposal for appointment of Judges in the Supreme Court vests with the Chief Justice of India, while initiation of proposals for appointment of Judges in the High Courts vests with the Chief Justice of the concerned High Court who may initiate the proposal for appointment of a Judge in the High Court at least six months prior to the occurrence of vacancies. However, this timeline is rarely adhered to. Filling up of vacancies in the Supreme Court and the High courts is a continuous, integrated and collaborative process, between the Executive and the Judiciary. It requires consultation and approval from various Constitutional Authorities. Hence, time frame to appoint Judges cannot be indicated.
While every effort is made to fill up the existing vacancies expeditiously, vacancies in High Courts do keep on arising on account of retirement, resignation or elevation of Judges and increase in Judge Strength.
As per the Constitutional framework, the selection and appointment of Judges in subordinate Courts is the responsibility of the concerned High Courts and State Governments.
******




























Annexure
Statement referred to in reply to parts (a) to (e) in Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 1416 to be answered on 27.11.2019 regarding ‘Vacant posts in Courts’.
(Position as on 20.11.2019)
Sl. No. Name of the Court Sanctioned Strength Working Strength Vacancies Total number of Judges appointed during
2016 2017 2018 2019
(20.11.2019)
A. Supreme Court of India 34 33 01 04 05 08 10
B. High Court
1 Allahabad 160 100 60 20 31 28 01
2 Andhra Pradesh 37 15 22 01 10 - 02
3 Bombay 94 65 29 06 14 04 05
4 Calcutta 72 40 32 01 06 11 06
5 Chhattisgarh 22 15 07 03 03 4 --
6 Delhi 60 37 23 05 04 5 04
7 Gauhati 24 18 06 05 02 2 01
8 Gujarat 52 28 24 05 -- 4 03
9 Himachal Pradesh 13 10 03 04 -- - 02
10 Jammu & Kashmir 17 08 09 -- 03 2 -
11 Jharkhand 25 19 06 04 02 3 02
12 Karnataka 62 39 23 05 02 12 09
13 Kerala 47 32 15 05 03 4 01
14 Madhya Pradesh 53 31 22 18 -- 8 02
15 Madras 75 54 21 25 12 8 01
16 Manipur 05 04 01 01 -- - -
17 Meghalaya 04 03 01 -- -- 1 01
18 Orissa 27 14 13 -- -- 1 -
19 Patna 53 27 26 06 06 - 05
20 Punjab& Haryana 85 49 36 01 08 7 03
21 Rajasthan 50 21 29 11 05 - 03
22 Sikkim 03 03 0 -- 01 - -
23 Telangana 24 13 11 -- -- 1 03
24 Tripura 04 03 01 -- 03 3 -
25 Uttarakhand 11 10 01 01
Total 1079 658 421 126 115 108 55