High Courts In "Crisis Situation" With Huge Vacancies For Judges: Supreme Court

"High courts are in a crisis situation. There are almost 40 per cent vacancies in high courts, with many of larger high courts working under 50 per cent of their sanctioned strength," the bench said.

The Supreme Court Tuesday expressed concern over the "crisis situation" in high courts which are grappling with 40-50 per cent vacancies and said the Centre should appoint judges within 3-4 weeks if the collegium reiterates its recommendations unanimously. Coming out with timelines to facilitate the process, a bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde said the Centre should proceed to make appointment immediately after the top court collegium recommends the names and if the government has any reservations on the "suitability or in public interest", it may send it back to the collegium with the specific reasons for reservation recorded. "If the Supreme Court collegium after consideration of the aforesaid inputs still reiterates the recommendation(s) unanimously (Cl. 24.1), such appointment should be processed and appointment should be made within three to four weeks," said the bench, also comprising Justices S K Kaul and Surya Kant. The bench said it would be "advisable" to follow the timelines, in addition to those mentioned in the Memorandum of Procedure as finalised by the collegium on March 10, 2017 where certain time frames have been stated for appointment of judges to the high courts.