Verdict is out: High Court appointments at 9-year high, shows data

In his maiden address to the Rajya Sabha, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar slammed the Supreme Court (SC) for invalidating the National Judicial Appointments Commission Bill, calling it a ‘disregard for the people’s mandate’.

While the government and the SC collegium are going back and forth on the appointments, an analysis reveals that 153 appointments at various high courts (HCs) have taken place over the year (until October) — the highest in nine years.

Further research shows vacancies have also come down to a five-year low. The vacancies at HCs had risen to 419, or 40 per cent of the workforce, by 2020.

On December 5, only 330 positions were vacant. However, 30 per cent of the positions at the HCs remain vacant.

Nearly half the positions in Rajasthan lie vacant. Six of the 26 HCs had a vacancy rate of over 40 per cent, while another five had over a third of positions vacant.

Gauhati and Sikkim had no vacancies; in three other HCs, less than 20 per cent of posts were vacant.

At the SC, against a sanctioned strength of 34, 27 judges, including the Chief Justice of India, are working.

Data from SC shows as on December 1, there were 69,598 cases pending before the apex court.

HCs had a pendency of nearly 6 million cases, of which 41.7 per cent were held up for over five years.