NEW DELHI: The Centre has told the Rajya Sabha that it has appointed nine Supreme Court judges and 118 judges were appointed to various high courts.
Minister of Law and Justice, Kiren Rijiju told Rajya Sabha that as on November 29, 164 proposals from high court collegium are pending between the government and Supreme Court collegium.
The Centre also said 55 proposals have been returned by the government to the high courts following the advice of the Supreme Court collegium.
John Brittas, MP from the Communist Party of India (Marxist), asked about appointment of judges and number of proposals sent by the collegium and accepted or rejected by the Union government.
The law minister says, “Government appoints only those persons as judges of high courts who are recommended by the Supreme Court collegium. The total number of high court collegium proposals which are at various stages of consideration between the government and Supreme Court collegium, as of 29 November 2021, is 164. The number of proposals which have been remitted or returned by the government to the high courts on the advice of the Supreme Court collegium is 55 during the current year.”
Also, there is no woman Chief Justice in any high court in the country, it was said. There are more than 4.36 lakh cases pending before courts across India and there are 5,598 vacancies in the judiciary, including the Supreme Court, high courts and district and subordinate courts.
“Supreme Court has 70,038 cases pending as of 8 November 2021, while the high courts and district and subordinate courts have 56.43 lakh and 3.79 crore cases, respectively, pending as of 29 November 2021,” the written reply states.