26% posts of HC judges lying vacant

About 26 per cent posts of High Court judges are lying vacant across the country, according to Ministry of Law and Justice.

The highest number of posts of judges are vacant in Allahabad High Court which is functioning with only 55 per cent of its approved strength, Union Minister for Law and Justice M Veerappa Moily said today in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha.

According to the statement, 234 posts out of approved strength of 886 of High Court judges are vacant across the country.

Out of total approved strength of 160, there are only 88 judges in the Allahabad High Court and remaining 72 posts are lying vacant.

"High Courts of Allahabad, Andhra Pradesh, Bombay, Kolkata, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala and Punjab and Haryana are yet to initiate proposals for filling up all the posts that were vacant in 2007," Moily said.

At present, proposals for appointment of 42 judges in various High Courts are under consideration of the government, he said.

Seventy vacant posts of judges were filled through fresh appointments during the period of January 1 to June 30 this year, he added.