The Law Minister on December 15 informed the Lok Sabha that 81 of the 123 proposals sent by High Court Collegiums for appointment of judges are at various stages of processing with the government.
The remaining 42 proposals are under the consideration of the Supreme Court Collegium, Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said in a written reply.
Mr. Meghwal also said recommendations are yet to be received from the high court collegiums regarding the remaining 201 vacancies.
“As on December 12, 123 proposals are at various stages of processing. Out of these 123 proposals, 81 proposals are at various stages of processing in the government. Forty-two proposals are under consideration with the SC collegium,” he said.
According to the Law Ministry’s website, as on December 1, of the sanctioned strength of 1,114 judges for the 25 High Courts, there were 324 vacancies.
In another written reply, the Law Minister also said that over five crore cases are pending in various courts of the country, including 80,000 in the Supreme Court.
As of December 1, Mr. Meghwal said that out of the 5,08,85,856 cases, over 61 lakh were pending across 25 High Courts. The district and subordinate courts accounted for over 4.46 crore cases, he added.