Number of posts of judges in high courts would be increased by 25%: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court today said the Memorandum of Procedure (MoP) for appointments to the higher judiciary has been cleared and the process of filling the vacancies in the high courts was proceeding on a “war footing”.

A bench headed by Chief Justice JS Khehar, while disposing of PILs seeking filling of vacancies for reducing the huge pendency of cases, said progress has been made and the number of posts of judges in high courts would be increased by 25 per cent. “In the first stage, we will look into the filling up of vacancies of high court judges and then we will look into increasing the number of high court judges,” the bench, also comprising Justices DY Chandrachud, said.

The bench said a committee of senior apex court judges has been formed for suggesting ways for reducing the pendency of cases up to three years. It also gave liberty to Delhi BJP spokesperson and advocate Ashwini Upadhaya to approach the apex court if he wanted to suggest ways to increase the number of judges. The bench also disposed of other petitions pertaining to the same issue.