Judiciary Overhaul? SC Pushes for 36 Appointments in High Courts:

Judiciary Overhaul? SC Pushes for 36 Appointments in High Courts The Supreme Court Collegium took a major step to fill the vacancies in the High Courts by recommending 36 judicial officers and advocates for appointment as judges. These appointments are distributed among eight High Courts in the country and are part of efforts to improve the judicial appointment process. There are 371 vacancies out of the total 1122 sanctioned judge positions across 25 High Courts as of July 1, 2025. To fill this shortage, the Supreme Court Collegium held a two-day marathon of personal interviews with 54 judicial officers and advocates on July 1 and 2. These interviews were conducted by the Chief Justice of India and two senior judges. Out of the total 36 recommendations, the Collegium has proposed 10 judges each for the High Courts of Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana. It has given recommendation of 4 judges each to the High Courts of Telangana and Gauhati, 3 to the Delhi High Court, 2 each to the High Courts of Rajasthan and Patna, and 1 to the Andhra Pradesh High Court. The Collegium has selected Shail Jain, Madhu Jain, and Vinod Kumar for the Delhi High Court for the appointment as judges. In Punjab and Haryana High Court, ten names as the recommendation has been given. These include Virinder Aggarwal, Mandeep Pannu, Parmod Goyal, Shalini Singh Nagpal, Amarinder Singh Grewal, Subhas Mehla, Surya Partap Singh, Rupinderjit Chahal, Aradhana Sawhney and Yashvir Singh Rathor. Also, in Telengana High Court, four advocates have been recommended for elevation as judges. These four names are Gouse Meera Mohiuddin, Chalapathi Rao Suddala, Vakiti Ramakrishna Reddy, and Gadi Praveen Kumar. For the Rajasthan High Court, the Collegium has proposed one judicial officer and one advocate. While Advocate Tuhin Kumar Gedela has been recommended for appointment as a judge of the Andhra Pradesh High Court. In the Gauhati High Court, the names of judicial officers Pranjal Das and Sanjeev Kumar Sharma, along with Advocates Anjan Moni Kalita and Rajesh Mazumdar have been proposed for judgeship. The Madhya Pradesh High Court is set to receive ten new judges, five advocates and five judicial officers. The advocates are Pushpendra Yadav, Anand Singh Bahrawat, Ajay Kumar Nirankari, Jai Kumar Pillai and Himanshu Joshi. The five judicial officers recommended are Rajesh Kumar Gupta, Alok Awasthi, Ratnesh Chandra Singh Bisen, Bhagwati Prasad Sharma and Pradeep Mittal. Advocates Ajit Kumar and Praveen Kumar have been proposed for appointment as judges of the Patna High Court. The Collegium has proposed that Justice Biswadeep Bhattacharjee who is currently serving as an additional judge, be made a permanent judge in Meghalaya. This needs converting the post of additional judge into that of a permanent judge. The Collegium has recently changed its process for selecting High Court judges to make it stricter and more detailed. After recent controversies, the process now includes personal interviews to better assess candidates. The current practice involves detailed questioning about resumes and professional experience. Each interview reportedly lasts about 30 minutes. Prior, the Collegium relied more on written inputs from state governments, judges of the Supreme Court from the respective High Court and reports from the Intelligence Bureau. Now, the selection process also includes direct face-to-face meetings with candidates. This new method was introduced earlier and continues under the current Collegium. There have been ongoing disagreements between the Supreme Court Collegium and the Central government regarding delays in approving judge appointments. These delays have led some candidates to withdraw their names from consideration. A sitting Supreme Court judge recently stated that any external forces blocking the Collegium’s recommendations should be dealt properly.