NEW DELHI: High Courts across India are grappling with 330 vacant judge positions out of a total sanctioned strength of 1,122, causing mounting delays and affecting millions of litigants, according to the Department of Justice data as of September 1, 2025.
The Allahabad High Court has the highest number of vacancies at 76, including 35 permanent and 41 additional judges. Other major High Courts with significant gaps include Bombay (26), Punjab and Haryana (25), Calcutta (24), Madras (19), Patna (18), Delhi (16), and Rajasthan (7). Uttarakhand has two vacancies, Tripura has one. Out of 25 states, only the High Courts of Sikkim and Meghalaya are functioning at their full sanctioned strength.
Data from the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) shows over 67 lakh pending cases across High Courts and more than 60,000 in the Supreme Court. While the Supreme Court operates at full strength of 34 judges, including the Chief Justice of India, High Courts struggle with excessive workloads.
Experts attribute the shortage to delays in the appointment process at both the Collegium and government levels, with repeated recommendations sometimes facing executive resistance or remaining unaddressed for months.
Former High Court judges and legal experts say that the high vacancy rates in High Courts are a major obstacle to the justice system, causing delays and contributing to growing case backlogs.
Retired Patna High Court Judge and legal expert, Justice Anajana Prakash, talking to the TNIE, said that the pendency of filling up judges' posts in HCs added to the woes of the disposal of cases, and as a result, ultimately, litigants suffer for this.
"The filling up of judges' posts in HCs should be addressed expeditiously. Until and unless the judiciary and the centre decide and deliberate upon this issue, the case disposal rate won't increase, which will ultimately affect the litigants at the state level," she said.
Former Allahabad High Court Judge Justice S.R. Singh told the TNIE that judge vacancies in High Courts are a major concern, causing hardship for litigants.
"Vacancies of judges lead to an unnecessary workload for existing judges, which can compromise the quality of judgments and cause burnout. So a judicious choice must be there to appoint judges keeping in view the pendency across HCs,” he said.
The vacancies include 161 permanent posts and 169 additional (temporary) posts, the latter appointed by the President for a maximum of two years to address temporary workload spikes.