Parliament Winter Session: The government has informed Parliament during the winter session of Parliament that it has sent back 20 names recommended for appointment as High Court judges to the Supreme Court Collegium. Rijiju, the law minister told Parliament, said that as of December 9, against the sanctioned strength of 1,108 judges, 777 were working in the 25 high courts, leaving 331 (30 per cent) vacancies.
He said in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha that at present 147 proposals received from various High Courts against 331 vacancies were at various stages of processing between the government and the Supreme Court Collegium. Further recommendations from the High Court Collegium in respect of 184 vacancies are yet to be received.
Government had asked to reconsider 20 files
Last month on November 29, PTI had reported that the government had asked the Supreme Court collegium to reconsider 20 files related to the appointment of high court judges, including the appointment of advocate Saurabh Kirpal. Saurabh Kirpal is not a lawyer who spoke openly about his gay identity.
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Sources in the know of the process of appointment of Supreme Court and high court judges had said that the government had expressed “strong objection” to the recommended names as the files were sent back to the collegium on November 25. He had said that out of 20 cases, 11 cases were new and 9 cases were repeated by the Supreme Court collegium.
At the same time, Rijiju said that in 2022, till December 9, the government has appointed a “record number” of 165 judges in different high courts, which is “the highest in a calendar year so far”.
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