New Delhi, Sep 6: Twenty-five recommendations made by the Supreme Court Collegium for the appointment of high court judges are currently pending with the central government, with advocate Saurabh Kirpal’s name being the oldest, awaiting a final decision since October 2017.
Sources familiar with the judicial appointments process that the number of pending recommendations has declined significantly compared to recent years.
The 25 recommendations are largely spread across the Delhi, Calcutta, Madras, Punjab and Haryana, and Gujarat High Courts, among others.
Kirpal, son of former Chief Justice of India B N Kirpal, was first recommended by the Delhi High Court Collegium for elevation as a judge in October 2017.
The Supreme Court Collegium is learnt to have deferred consideration of his candidature three times before the then CJI N V Ramana-led Collegium approved his elevation in November 2021.
However, the government returned his file to the Supreme Court Collegium for reconsideration in November 2022. The Collegium subsequently reiterated its recommendation, but the file has remained pending since then.
Sources said most of the other recommendations pending with the government are relatively recent, barring two names apart from Kirpal’s.
Under the existing procedure, high court collegiums recommend judicial officers and advocates for elevation as judges to the Department of Justice under the Union Law Ministry.
The department examines the recommendations and adds inputs, including reports from the Intelligence Bureau, before forwarding the files to the Supreme Court Collegium.
The apex court Collegium then decides whether to endorse the recommendations for appointment or return the files to the concerned high court Collegium for reconsideration.
The 25 high courts have a combined sanctioned strength of 1,122 judges. Against this, 304 posts are currently vacant, leaving a working strength of 818 judges.
This means around 27 per cent of sanctioned high court judge posts are presently vacant.
