PIL highlights shortage of judges in HC, urges for filling vacancies

A PIL has been filed in the Delhi High Court, highlighting a shortage of judges and urging for expeditiously filling up the vacancies by elevating eligible district judges and advocates from the bar.

The public interest litigation (PIL) matter is likely to come up for hearing next week before a Bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela.

The Delhi High Court has a sanctioned strength of 60 judges but is working with 36 judges currently.

In his plea, petitioner and advocate Amit Sahni has sought an urgent judicial intervention regarding the “alarming and chronic shortage” of judges in the court, which has “adversely impacted the timely dispensation of justice and the functioning of the judiciary”.

Sahni, a lawyer, has pointed out in his plea that according to the sanctioned strength, the court should have 60 judges - 45 permanent and 15 additional.

“However, it is currently functioning with only 36 judges, reflecting a vacancy rate of 40 per cent. This serious shortfall has arisen due to retirements, recent inter-court transfers and inaction in appointing judges despite the constitutional mandate and existing Memorandum of Procedure (MoP) requiring appointments to be initiated well before vacancies arise,” the plea says.

The petitioner has pointed out that several judges have retired recently, while three - Justices Yashwant Varma, CD Singh and Dinesh Kumar Sharma - have been transferred to other high courts.

Two more retirements are expected in the coming months, which will reduce the strength to 34 judges, further exacerbating pendency and judicial delays, the plea says.

The petitioner has urged the court to direct the authorities concerned for expeditious action in filling up the judicial vacancies by elevating eligible district judges and advocates from the bar, thereby ensuring the effective functioning of the high court.

“The continued shortage of judges has led to alarming pendency of cases, excessive workload on sitting judges, delays in disposal of critical matters, such as writs, bail applications, appeals and commercial disputes, thereby directly affecting citizens’ rights and public trust in the judiciary,” the plea says.

Judicial delays hurt the economically weaker and marginalised sections the most as they lack the resources to endure protracted legal battles or seek redressal elsewhere, the petition says.

It says judicial vacancies should not be viewed merely as an administrative concern, but as a serious issue of fundamental rights and institutional trust.