188 NAMES FOR 419 HC JUDGE VACANCIES, GOVT YET TO DECIDE ON 112

NEW DELHI: There are currently 188 names in contemplation for appointment as high court judges as against a staggering vacancy of 419 judges — more than a third of the total positions. Of the 188 names being considered, a majority of the names (112) are pending with the central government with the oldest recommendations for appointment going back to July 2019, HT has learnt through people familiar with the development.

As on date, the government has a total of 40 names to clear as judges after the Supreme Court collegium recommended them while another 72 other names forwarded by various high courts are also pending with the union ministry of law and justice.

Out of these 72 names sent by the high courts, the law ministry has been sitting on 50 names for more than six months without forwarding them to the Supreme Court collegium for finalisation, compounding the crisis.

The law ministry did not respond to queries by the time of going to press.

The procedure requires high courts to send the names first to the government for Intelligence Bureau (IB) inputs, following which they are to be sent by the government to the SC collegium. After finalising these names, the SC collegium sends them back to the government for making the appointments. However, under the memorandum of procedure (MoP) on judicial appointments, there is no timeframe for the government to act on a collegium decision.