Satya Prakash
New Delhi, December 31
Despite a standoff between the government and the judiciary, 165 judges were appointed to various high courts in 2022, the highest in a calendar year.
As on November 1, there were 773 judges (637 permanent and 136 additional) against the sanctioned strength of 1,108 (836 permanent and 272 additional), leaving 335 posts in various high courts (199 permanent and 136 additional) vacant.
According to official figures of appointments and transfers of judges in the year gone by, eight Chief Justices were appointed to the high courts of Gauhati, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu amp; Kashmir and Ladakh, Karnataka, Madras, Telangana, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand.
Two Chief Justices were transferred from one high court to another, while six judges of high courts were transferred from one high court to another. The maximum number of judges were appointed to the High Court of Punjab and Haryana (21), followed by Bombay (19), Delhi (17), Telangana (17), Calcutta (16), Andhra(14), Allahabad (13) and Patna (11). While six judges each were appointed to the Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and the Orissa HCs, Jamp;K and Ladakh and Madras HCs got four judges each, Chhattisgarh three; Gauhati, HP and Rajasthan two each; and Jharkhand and Kerala one each.
Besides these fresh appointments, 38 additional judges were made permanent in various HCs. The Allahabad HC got 10 additional judges, while the Madras HC got nine, followed by Calcutta High Court (six), Bombay and Kerala HCs (four), Karnataka HC (three), and HP and Manipur (one).