‘Not Public Job Hiring, All Aware Of The Crisis’
Delhi High Court dismissed a PIL on judge shortages, saying appointments aren’t regular government recruitment. The court assured all stakeholders are aware and efforts are ongoing.
New Delhi: Today, On May 14, The Delhi High Court recently stated that the process of appointing judges to the High Court is not similar to ordinary recruitment in government services.
The court was hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) that requested quick filling of judicial vacancies in the Delhi High Court.
A bench consisting of Chief Justice D.K. Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela made it clear that all concerned authorities are well aware of the current shortage of judges and are already making efforts to resolve it.
While hearing the matter, the bench told the petitioner that judicial appointments are high-level constitutional posts and cannot be treated as regular public service jobs.
The court said,
“These are high constitutional offices. These are not normal recruitment to public service. You can’t say that respondent no 1 and 2 are not alive to the situation.”
The bench further advised the petitioner to let the authorities handle the issue administratively.
It added,
“I would request you to leave the matter to respondent 1 and 2 on the administrative side. Everyone associated with the judicial system is alive to the situation. It is not that efforts are not being made.”
During the hearing, Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma informed the court that the Supreme Court is already considering the larger issues related to judicial appointments across the country.
After hearing this, the petitioner, Advocate Amit Sahni, decided to withdraw the PIL and informed the bench that he plans to approach the Supreme Court instead.
Following this, the court disposed of the petition and stated,
“Accordingly, nothing needs to be adjudicated in this petition. The petition is disposed of.”
The PIL had raised concerns about what it called an “alarming and chronic shortage” of judges in the Delhi High Court.
It said this shortage is severely affecting the delivery of timely justice and the overall functioning of the judicial system.
According to the petitioner, the sanctioned strength of the Delhi High Court is 60 judges, including 45 permanent and 15 additional judges.
However, at present, the court is functioning with only 36 judges. This means there is a vacancy of about 40 percent, which is very high.
The petition explained that this shortage is due to multiple reasons such as retirements, inter-court transfers, and delay in appointments despite there being a clear constitutional mandate and existing procedure which requires that new appointments be initiated well before any vacancy arises.
It also noted that some judges recently retired and three others—Justice Yashwant Varma, Justice C.D. Singh, and Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma—were transferred to other high courts.
The plea added that two more judges are also expected to retire soon, which will reduce the number of judges to only 34, making the situation worse in terms of case pendency and delayed hearings.
The petitioner had asked the court to direct the authorities to quickly appoint new judges either by promoting eligible district court judges or by selecting advocates from the Bar.
This, he said, would help the Delhi High Court function smoothly and efficiently, ensuring that justice is not delayed for the common public.
With the petition now dismissed, the matter is expected to be taken up before the Supreme Court in the coming days.
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