The Centre has cleared the appointments of new chief justices for five High Courts and transferred Telangana Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma as the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court within a month of the Supreme Court Collegium led by Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana making these recommendations to the government.
The five High Courts which would get new chief justices are Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gauhati and Telangana.
Delhi High Court judge Justice Vipin Sanghi has been appointed Chief Justice of Uttarakhand. Two Bombay High Court judges — Justices Amjad A. Sayed and S.S. Shinde — have been appointed Himachal Pradesh Chief Justice and Rajasthan Chief Justice respectively. Recently, the daughter of a Himachal Pradesh High Court judge was arrested in connection with the murder of national-level shooter and advocate Sukhmanpreet Singh Sidhu.
Gujarat High Court judge Rashmin Manharbhai Chhaya has been appointed Gauhati Chief Justice. Telangana High Court judge Ujjal Bhuyan has been appointed Chief Justice of the Telangana High Court. Justice Bhuyan's parent High Court is Gauhati.
Justice Satish Chandra Sharma, whose parent high court is Madhya Pradesh, would have a tenure till November 2023.
The Delhi High Court has not had a Chief Justice since Chief Justice D.N. Patel retired. Justice Sanghi has been the acting Chief Justice since March 13 this year.
Judicial vacancies
As of June 1, the number of judicial vacancies in the high courts remain at 400 while the working strength of judges is 708. The sanctioned strength of judges in the 25 high courts is 1,108.
CJI Ramana, in his recent address at the joint conference of chief justices and chief ministers, had highlighted how the sanctioned judicial strength continued to be disproportionate to the burgeoning case load faced by district courts, high courts and the Supreme Court.
“When we last met in 2016, the sanctioned strength of judicial officers in the country was 20,811. Now, it is 24,112, which is an increase of 16% in six years. On the other hand, in the corresponding period, pendency in district courts has gone up from 2.65 crore to 4.11 crore which is an increase of 54.64%. This data show how inadequate the increase in the sanctioned strength is… Unless the foundation is strong, the structure cannot be sustained,” Chief Justice Ramana had pointed out.
