STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Due to tussle between the government and the judiciary over the contentious clause in the Memorandum of Procedure (MoP) on appointment of judges, the number of vacancies of High Court judges has reached 433 out of the sanctioned strength of 1079.
Data on judges’ vacancies in the 24 High Courts as on February 1, 2017 shows that against the approved strength of 1079 judges, the 24 High Courts are functioning with 646 judges.
The Allahabad High Court has the maximum of 77 vacancies against the sanctioned strength of 160 judges, Hyderabad High Court has 34 vacancies against the sanctioned strength of 61 judges, Bombay High Court has 32 vacancies against the sanctioned strength of 94 judges, Calcutta High Court has 34 vacancies against the sanctioned strength of 72 judges, Chhattisgarh High Court has 11 vacancies against the sanctioned strength of 22 judges, Delhi High Court has 22 vacancies against the sanctioned strength of 60 judges, Guwahati High Court has seven vacancies against the sanctioned strength of 24 judges, Gujarat High Court has 21 vacancies against the sanctioned strength of 52 judges, Himachal Pradesh High Court has four against the sanctioned strength of 13 judges, Jammu and Kashmir High Court has eight against the sanctioned strength of 17 judges, Jharkhand High Court 12 against the sanctioned strength of 25 judges, Karnataka High Court 32 against the sanctioned strength of 62 judges, Kerala High Court 10 vacancies against the sanctioned strength of 47 judges, Madhya Pardesh High Court has 16 vacancies against the sanctioned strength of 53 judges, Madras High Court has 18 vacancies against the sanctioned strength of 75 judges, Manipur High Court has two vacancies against the sanctioned strength of five judges, Meghalaya High Court has single vacancy against the sanctioned strength of four judges, Orissa High Court nine vacancies against the sanctioned strength of 27 judges, Patna High Court has 23 vacancies against the sanctioned strength of 53 judges, Punjab and Haryana High Court has 38 vacancies against the sanctioned strength of 85 judges, Rajasthan High Court has 16 vacancies against the sanctioned strength of 50 judges, Sikkim High Court has one vacancy against the sanctioned strength of three judges, Tripura High Court has lone vacancy against the sanctioned strength of four judges and Uttarakhand High Court has four vacancies against the sanctioned strength of 11 judges.
It is worthwhile to mention here that five High Courts namely Hyderabad, Calcutta, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Patna have acting Chief Justices.
