Three transfers and two retirements in March and April this year have reduced the working strength of the Delhi High Court to 36 judges, leaving 40 per cent of the positions vacant..Two more judges – Justices Dharmesh Sharma and Shalinder Kaur – are scheduled to superannuate later this year. If no appointments are made by then, only 34 judges would be working in the High Court, which has a sanctioned strength of 60. .Recent developments.The alleged discovery of a pile of cash at Justice Yashwant Varma’s house in March shook the Delhi High Court. On March 24, the Supreme Court Collegium ordered his repatriation to his parent High Court of Allahabad. The government also promptly cleared the transfer of the third senior-most judge.Three days later, the Collegium ordered the transfer of Justice DK Sharma to Calcutta. While no reason was given for this transfer, the Bar bodies in Kolkata objected to the recommendation. However, Justice Sharma tried to dispel those concerns in his farewell address. He said he will “serve the institution to the best of my ability and intentions."Another transfer out of the Delhi High Court came on March 28 when the Centre cleared the repatriation of Justice Chandra Dhari Singh to Allahabad. The Supreme Court Collegium had recommended the transfer in November. However, the government took four months to make up its mind. .Earlier in March, Justices Rekha Palli and Anoop Kumar Mendiratta retired..How are High Court judges appointed? .Judges of the High Courts are appointed under Articles 217 and 224 of the Constitution of India and as per the procedure laid down in the Memorandum of Procedure (MoP) prepared in 1998. The MoP was prepared following the Supreme Court judgment of October 6, 1993, the Second Judges case and the Third Judges case of October 28, 1998. According to the MoP, the initiation of the proposal for the appointment of High Court judges vests with the Chief Justice of the concerned High Court. The Chief Justice of the High Court is required to initiate the proposal to fill up of vacancy of a High Court Judge six months prior to the occurrence of vacancy. However, the Ministry of Law and Justice says that this timeline is often not adhered to by the High Courts. All the names recommended by High Court collegium are sent with the views of the government to the Supreme Court Collegium for advice. The Supreme Court collegium deliberates on the names and only those persons are appointed as judges who are recommended by the collegium of the apex court. .How do Delhi High Court vacancies fare against other courts? .As per data provided by the Ministry of Law and Justice till April 15, the Delhi High Court, with 40% vacancies, is worse than the national average. In the 25 High Courts as a whole, 357 of the 1,122 judge posts (31.8%) were vacant. Delhi ranked fourth worst among these High Courts. The Allahabad High Court topped the list, with nearly half of the judge’s posts lying vacant. This was followed by the Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court and the Orissa High Court with 44% and 42%. The national capital shared the fourth spot with Jharkhand and Manipur for vacancies..Data also shows that since 2014, a total of 51 judges have been appointed to the Delhi High Court. In three of those years (2015, 2020 and 2024), no appointments were made. The year 2022 proved to be the best, with a total of 17 appointments.Even here, Delhi fared worse than the average. While its 60 judges account for 5.3% of the total number of High Court judges, the appointments since 2014 amount to only 4.7%. .The stress on judges .Former Uttarakhand High Court Chief Justice and Delhi High Court Acting Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi told Bar & Bench that high vacancies choke the courts. “The workload increases. The available judges have to share their workload with whoever is available. It chokes the courts and the result is that the number of cases listed before a judge increases, and they are not able to devote time."He said that frequent transfers lead to roster changes, putting the brakes on the disposal of cases. “A lot of part-heard matters can go to waste because you don’t take them up every day. And then the judge gets embroiled in his day-to-day work on their new roster."Justice Sanghi added that Delhi High Court has never even come close to functioning at its full strength. “If I remember correctly, we have touched the figure of 48 at one point that was the highest ever,” he said.
