Vacancies of Judges and Pending Cases in High Courts

Pursuant to the Supreme Court Judgment of October 6, 1993 read with their Advisory Opinion of October 28, 1998, the entire process of initiation of proposal for appointment of a Judge of a High Court rests with the Chief Justice of the concerned High Court. The main reason for the large number of vacant posts is that the Government has not received sufficient proposals to fill up these vacant posts. Giving this information in written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Shri Salman Khurshid, Minister of Law & Justice informed the House that Government is periodically reminding the Chief Justices of the High Courts to expedite proposals to fill up the existing vacancies as well as the vacancies anticipated in next six months.

Shri Khurshid said that the filling up of vacancies in the High Courts is a continuous consultative process among the Constitutional authorities. While every effort is made to fill up the existing vacancies expeditiously, vacancies do keep on arising on account of retirement, resignation or elevation of Judges, he said