Keeping to the fast pace of adding to the roster of high court judges across the country – an essential prerequisite for bringing down the mountain  of pendency at all courts – 11 more judges’ names have been cleared by the government for the Madras, Chhattisgarh and Punjab and Haryana high  courts.

The names have been sent to President Pranab Mukherjee for his assent.

For Chief Justice JS Khehar, increasing the number of judges towards reducing the pendency was a prime objective, and despite the judiciary-executive spat that continues, he has been able to clear many names proposed by the Supreme Court Collegium from the government. This addition pushes the roster strength of the 24 high courts of the country to 63 percent of their sanctioned strength, according to media reports.

Of the 11, Madras will get 6, Chhattisgarh 3 and Punjab and Haryana 2. Punjab and Haryana, however, remain hamstrung with a huge shortfall in its roster – it has a sanctioned strength of 85, but yet there are 39 vacancies.

—India Legal Bureau