Hopes on CJ to fill HC vacancies

32 vacancies in Hyderabad High Court delaying cases

Though there was not a single name from AP and TS in the list proposed by the Centre to be forwarded to the Supreme Court for appointment as judges to the Hyderabad High Court, lawyers of the Telugu states are hoping that Chief Justice T.B.N. Radhakrishnan would soon initiate the process to fill the vacancies.

According to reports from Delhi, the Centre would likely to forward as many as 120 names to the Supreme Court for appointment as judges. The number of vacancies stood at 411 as on July 1, 2018, in 24 High Courts across the country.

As many as 32 posts of judges are lying vacant for several months in the common High Court for the Telugu states and Justice Ramesh Ranganathan, who was in the chair as Acting Chief Justice from July 30, 2016, to July 6, 2018, declined to initiate the appointment process as a matter of principle.

According to the office bearers of the advocates associations, when they represented to the ACJ to initiate the appointment process by calling a collegium meeting, he expressed his disinclination to initiate the process, stating that the regular Chief Justice would take up the task.

The 32 vacancies have to be filled in a 60:40 ratio, with members of the Bar and State judicial services respectively.

Lawyers are hoping that Justice Radhakrishnan who assumed office of the Chief Justice on July 7, will concentrate on filling up the vacancies.

Recently the office bearers of both the advocates associations met the Union law minister and requested him to initiate steps to fill up the vacancies.

Mr C. Damodar Reddy, president of the Telangana High Court Advocates Association, said that as of now there were 3.5 lakh cases pending in the High Court and since May 2015 not even a single vacancy of judges has been filled up. He said that the office bearers of both associations had decided to meet the Chief Justice soon to request him to initiate the appointments.