New Delhi, Dec 15: Parliament was informed on Friday that eighty-one out of the 123 proposals submitted by high court collegiums for judge appointments are being processed by the government at different stages. In a written response to a question in the Lok Sabha, Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal stated that the Supreme Court Collegium is currently reviewing the remaining 42 proposals. He added that recommendations from the high court collegiums regarding the remaining 201 vacancies have not yet been received.“As of December 12, 123 proposals were being processed in different ways. Of these 123 proposals, 81 are being processed by the government at different stages. The SC Collegium is now debating 42 proposals, according to Meghwal. On December 1, there were 324 vacancies out of the 1,114 sanctioned judges for the 25 high courts, according to the law ministry’s website. The chief justice of a high court starts the process of proposing candidates to fill judge vacancies, in accordance with the established procedure. The opinions of the federal government are sent to the Supreme Court Collegium along with all of the names that the high court collegiums have recommended.Certain names are recommended by the apex court collegium, and the remaining names are returned to the hugh court collegiums. The president then appoints judges as the government implements the recommendations. The Supreme Court Collegium receives some recommendations back for further consideration. Only individuals who have been recommended by the Supreme Court Collegium are appointed by the government.
