Sanctioned Strength of Supreme Court and High Court Judges, Vacancies and number of pending cases as on 23.01.2024

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Sanctioned Strength of Supreme Court and High Court Judges, Vacancies and number of pending cases as on 23.01.2024

Sanctioned Strength of Supreme Court and High Court Judges, Vacancies and number of pending cases as on 23.01.2024

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 5

TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 02.02.2024

Sanctioned Strength of Supreme Court and High Court Judges

5. SHRI MAHESH SAHOO:

Will the Minister of LAW AND JUSTICE be pleased to state:

(a) the total sanctioned strength of judges in Supreme Court and High Courts across the country along with the number of judges at present;

(b) the number of pending cases in Supreme Court and High Courts, High Court-wise details thereof; and

(c) whether the Government is considering increasing the strength of Supreme Court and High Court judges to get over with the pending cases, if so, the details thereof ?

ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE; MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS; AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF CULTURE

(SHRI ARJUN RAM MEGHWAL)

(a) to (c): As on 29.01.2024, against the sanctioned strength of 34 Judges, the Supreme Court is functioning at full strength and there is no vacancy. As regards the High Courts, against the sanctioned strength of 1114 Judges, 783 Judges are working and 331 post of Judges are vacant in the various High Courts. The High Court-wise detail of sanctioned strength, working strength and vacancy as on 29.01.2024 is at Annexure-I.

The pendency of cases in courts is not only due to shortage of judges in High Courts but also due to various other factors like (i) increase in number of state and central legislations, (ii) accumulation of first appeals, (iii) continuation of ordinary civil jurisdiction in some of the High Courts, (iv) appeals against orders of quasi-judicial forums going to High Courts, (v) number of revisions/appeals, (vi) frequent adjournments, (vii) indiscriminate use of writ jurisdiction, (viii) lack of adequate arrangement to monitor, tracking and bunching of cases for hearing, (ix) assigning work of administrative nature to the Judges, etc.

The strength of the Supreme Court of India was increased from 31 to 34 Judges (including Chief Justice of India) on 9th August, 2019. Whereas the strength of High Court has increased from 906 in 2014 to 1114Judges.Presently, no complete proposal regarding increase in Judge strength of High Courts is under consideration of the Government.

A statement regarding number of pending cases in Supreme Court and High Courts; High Court-wise is placed at Annexure-II.

***

ANNEXURE-I

Statement showing Sanctioned strength, Working Strength and Vacancies of Judges in the Supreme Court of India and the High Courts (as on 29.01.2024)

ย  ย  Sanctioned strength Working strength Vacancies
A. Supreme Court 34 34 0
B. High Court Pmt. Addl Total Pmt. Addl Total Pmt. Addl Total
1 Allahabad 119 41 160 76 14 90 43 27 70
2 Andhra Pradesh 28 9 37 22 8 30 6 1 7
3 Bombay 71 23 94 40 29 69 31 -6 25
4 Calcutta 54 18 72 37 14 51 17 4 21
5 Chhattisgarh 17 5 22 10 6 16 7 -1 6
6 Delhi 46 14 60 37 5 42 9 9 18
7 Gauhati 22 8 30 16 7 23 6 1 7
8 Gujarat 39 13 52 31 0 31 8 13 21
9 Himachal Pradesh 13 4 17 12 0 12 1 4 5
10 J & K and Ladakh 13 4 17 11 4 15 2 0 2
11 Jharkhand 20 5 25 17 1 18 3 4 7
12 Karnataka 47 15 62 39 12 51 8 3 11
13 Kerala 35 12 47 32 4 36 3 8 11
14 Madhya Pradesh 39 14 53 39 1 40 0 13 13
15 Madras 56 19 75 54 13 67 2 6 8
16 Manipur 4 1 5 4 0 4 0 1 1
17 Meghalaya 3 1 4 2 1 3 1 0 1
18 Orissa 24 9 33 20 0 20 4 9 13
19 Patna 40 13 53 35 0 35 5 13 18
20 Punjab & Haryana 64 21 85 41 15 56 23 6 29
21 Rajasthan 38 12 50 34 0 34 4 12 16
22 Sikkim 3 0 3 3 0 3 0 0 0
23 Telangana 32 10 42 21 5 26 11 5 16
24 Tripura 4 1 5 4 1 5 0 0 0
25 Uttarakhand 9 2 11 6 0 6 3 2 5
Total 840 274 1114 643 140 783 197 134 331

Statement showing pendency of cases in Supreme Court and the High Courts

The number of cases pending in Supreme Court, as on 23.01.2024, are 80,221 cases. The detailed Statement of High-Court-wise pendency of cases are as per Annexure.

High-Court wise Pendency of Cases (as on 23.01.2024)
ย Sr No. ย High Court ย No. of Pending Cases
1 Allahabad High Court 1074789
2 Bombay High Court 722657
3 High Court Of Rajasthan 669554
4 Madras High Court 541829
5 High Court of Madhya Pradesh 447440
6 High Court of Punjab and Haryana 441573
7 High Court of Karnataka 288387
8 High Court of Kerala 255399
9 High Court of Andhra Pradesh 248979
10 High Court for State of Telangana 248088
11 Patna High Court 197798
12 Calcutta High Court 195208
13 High Court of Gujarat 170002
14 Orissa High Court 145882
15 High Court of Delhi 123658
16 High Court of Himachal Pradesh 100276
17 High Court Of Chhattisgarh 90354
18 High Court of Jharkhand 84358
19 Gauhati High Court 62579
20 High Court of Uttarakhand 50762
21 High Court of Jammu and Kashmir 44622
22 High Court of Manipur 4687
23 High Court of Tripura 1271
24 High Court of Meghalaya 1137
25 High Court of Sikkim 182
Total 6211471
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