The Supreme Court has expressed serious concern over the Centre’s delay in approving the appointments of High Court judges. The apex court directed the government to expedite the process and approve the pending recommendations made by the Collegium. The court emphasized that several names recommended for High Court judgeships are still pending with the central government.
In addition to the appointment delays, the Supreme Court also flagged the growing backlog of criminal appeals in the High Courts. It revealed that a staggering 7,24,192 criminal appeal cases are pending across various High Courts in the country. Notably, the Allahabad High Court alone accounts for 2.7 lakh of these pending cases.
On Tuesday, the top court informed that since November 2022, the Collegium has approved 221 names for High Court judges. However, 29 of those recommendations remain unapproved by the Centre. The Supreme Court has also made public the list of recommended candidates, their connections with current or retired judges, and the approval status of each recommendation on its official website.
