Supreme Court Made 7 Recommendations To Fill All Vacancies: Law Minister

Law and Justice Minister Kiren Rijiju today while responding to the queries made by Member of Parliament John Brittas in Parliament stated that as of January 30, against the sanctioned strength of 34 Judges, 27 Judges are working in the Supreme Court, leaving 7 vacancies.

Supreme Court Collegium (SCC) has recently made 7 recommendations to fill up all the vacancies of Judges in the Supreme Court.

Mr Rijiju also informed the Parliament that as on January 30, against the sanctioned strength of 1108 judges in various High Courts, 775 judges are working and 333 posts of Judges are vacant in the High Courts.

"142 proposals recommended by the High Court Collegiums are at various stages of processing. Out of these 142, 4 proposals are pending with the Supreme Court Collegium and 138 are under various stages of processing in the Government," he added.

As on January 30, recommendations in respect of 236 vacancies (191 existing and 45 anticipated vacancies during the next 06 months) are yet to be received from High Court Collegiums, which are in breach of six months advance timeline for making recommendations for anticipated vacancies, said the Law and Justice Minister.

The Supreme Court Collegium on Tuesday recommended Allahabad High Court Chief Justice, Justice Rajesh Bindal, and Gujarat High Court Chief Justice, Justice Aravind Kumar for elevation as Judges of the top court.

The SC Collegium comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud along with justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, KM Joseph, MR Shah, Ajay Rastogi and Sanjiv Khanna made the recommendation.

The Collegium said that they have found both of the judges to be more deserving and suitable in all respects for being appointed as Judges of the Supreme Court of India after carefully evaluating the merit, integrity and competence of eligible Chief Justices and senior puisne Judges of the High Courts and also accommodating a plurality of considerations.

While recommending the above names the Collegium has taken into consideration the various aspects including the seniority of Chief Justices and senior puisne Judges in their respective parent High Courts as well as the overall seniority of the High Court Judges among others. 

Other aspects that were considered were the merit, performance and integrity of the judges, the need to ensure diversity and inclusion in the Supreme Court by the representation of High Courts which are not represented or are inadequately represented, in the Supreme Court, appointing persons from marginalized and backward segments of society, gender diversity and representation of minorities.

The Supreme Court of India has a sanctioned strength of thirty-four Judges and is presently functioning with twenty-seven Judges. Thus, there are seven clear vacancies, the collegium observed.

On 13 December 2022, the Collegium recommended five names for appointment as Judges of the Supreme Court, namely Justice Pankaj Mithal, Justice Sanjay Karol, Justice PV Sanjay Kumar, Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah, and Justice Manoj Misra. 

Their appointment is yet to be notified by the Government.

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