On High Courts....

The number of judges in high courts across the country is set to increase by about 25%, with the Centre writing to all chief justices and chief ministers informing them of the decision and seeking their views on additional infrastructure and support staff.
As per a letter from Union law minister Kapil Sibal dated January 16, the Allahabad high court will have a sanctioned strength of 200 judges, up from 160, while the Bombay high court will have a maximum of 94 judges, up from 75 .
The Punjab and Haryana high court will become the third largest in terms of sanctioned strength, with a maximum of 85 judges, up from 68.
At the Madras high court, the numbers will go up from 60 to 75, the letter said, adding that the sanctioned strength of the Delhi and Calcutta high courts will rise from 48 to 60 and 58 to 73 respectively.
“We undertake periodic review of judges’ strength for every high court to facilitate expeditious disposal of cases, taking into account the existing backlog and expected filing of cases,” Sibal said.
Referring to a resolution adopted at the April 7, 2013 conference of chief justices and chief ministers, he said: “As per the decision, we have computed 25% increase of existing strength of judges for each high court. The Chief Justice of India has been consulted in the matter, and he is agreeable to the same as an interim measure.” Sibal’s letter informed the chief justices that chief ministers too had been informed about the decision.
The main purpose of the January 16 letter was to ask the chief justices to prepare proposals on additional facilities concerning courtroom, quarters and support staff. Sibal noted that these facilities will have be put in place with the agreement of the state government concerned.
In his letter to Chief Justice R K Agrawal of the Madras high court, Sibal said that out of the 75 judges, 56 would occupy permanent vacancies while 19 would be additional judges. “The permanent and additional judges would be bifurcated in the 75:25 ratio,” the law minister’s letter said.
The court at present has only 47 judges, and a series of protests on the campus has put a big question mark on the fate of 12 names recommended in December 2013 for appointment as judges.