HC expresses concern over declining strength of its judges

The Delhi High Court today said the recent retirement of some of its judges has seriously impacted its strength, leading to increased workload and consequent delay in deciding cases.

"After the two recent retirements in May and June this year, the number of division benches was reduced by one. After the next retirement, the number of division benches will further go down," a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar said.

As a result, the number of cases before other judges would go up by hundreds, the bench observed.

Justices Deepa Sharma and S P Garg had retired in May and June respectively, while Justices P S Teji and Pratibha Rani are expected to retire in August. This will bring down the strength of the Delhi High Court to 34 from the existing 36.

The sanctioned strength of the High Court is 60.

The observation by the bench came after senior advocate Kirti Uppal said he had recently raised the issue before the Supreme Court and pointed out that matters were getting delayed due to the less number of judges.

"I said we are working at 50 per cent strength," Uppal said and added that the apex court had told him that the names of judges for Delhi High Court have been approved by the SC Collegium.

The issue came up for discussion when the court was hearing a petition by a doctor who questioned the approval given to Indian drug company, Gennova Biopharmaceuticals Ltd, with regard to its biosimilar drug of Tenecteplase which is used for treating patients who have suffered stroke.

Uppal had told the apex court that the hearing in the matter has not been taken up on several dates due to paucity of time and the number of judges in the High Court.

The bench said the matter was not a PIL and sent it to a single judge bench for hearing.