Clear judge appointments quickly amid growing case backlog: SC to Centre

The Supreme Court today highlighted the alarming situation of over 7 lakh criminal appeals that are currently pending across various High Courts

The Supreme Court on Thursday expressed serious concern over the rising number of pending cases in High Courts due to unfilled judge vacancies and urged the Central government to act swiftly on the Collegium’s recommendations for judicial appointments.

 

According to a report by Live Law, in its order, the SC bench comprising Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan observed, “The Central Government needs to ensure that the recommendations made by the Supreme Court collegium for judge appointments are cleared expeditiously.” 

 

The bench made the observation while hearing a suo motu case related to issues concerning the grant of bail.

 

The top court highlighted the alarming situation of over 7 lakh criminal appeals that are currently pending across various High Courts. This backlog, the SC indicated, is directly linked to the shortage of judges in several High Courts.

 

The bench provided detailed figures to underscore the crisis. The Allahabad High Court, which has the highest pendency of criminal appeals at over 2 lakh, is operating with only 79 judges, despite a sanctioned strength of 160. The Bombay High Court has just 60 judges against an approved strength of 94. In the Calcutta High Court, only 44 judges are working, while 72 posts have been sanctioned. Similarly, the Delhi High Court is functioning with only 36 judges, though it is allowed to have 60. 

 

The Court also referred to recent data published by the Supreme Court, which shows that 29 recommendations made by the Collegium since November 2022 remain pending with the Centre. Of these, 4 recommendations are from the year 2023, 13 from 2024, and 12 from 2025. In addition to these, several reiterated recommendations—names that were returned once by the Centre and then re-sent by the Collegium—also await approval.

 

The bench remarked, “We hope and trust that the pending proposals will be cleared by the central government at the earliest.”

 

The Supreme Court has long maintained that delays in appointments adversely impact the functioning of the judiciary. This latest observation adds to a series of reminders from the judiciary to the executive to address vacancies in the higher courts with urgency.