CJI gives nod to increase bench strength of Telangana HC to 42

Chief Justice of India (CJI) NV Ramana gave his nod to increase the sanctioned Bench strength of Telangana State High Court by a massive 75 per cent. The sanctioned Bench strength will now go up from the existing 24 to 42 judges including 32 permanent judges and the remaining 10 additional judges. Further, the elevations to the High Court judge posts from the Bar will be 28 and the remaining 14 will be from the judicial services.

The increase in sanctioned Bench strength of Telangana High Court will come into effect from June 8, the date on which Justice Ramana gave his approval. The Union Ministry of Law and Justice is expected to issue a notification for filling the vacancies soon.

An alarming number of 2.37 lakh cases including 2.3 civil and 34,000 criminal cases are pending before the High Court. In view of the proportionately higher pendency in Telangana High Court, a proposal for an increase in sanctioned Bench strength was sent to the Union Ministry of Law and Justice on February 13, 2019. The same was endorsed by Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao and the then Governor of Telangana ESL Narasimhan. The Ministry examined the proposal in detail but kept it in abeyance.

The Chief Minister took up the issue with Prime Minister



Narendra Modi following which the Union Ministry of Law and Justice re-examined the proposal and asked the then Chief Justice of Telangana High Court to give preference to fill vacancies first. Later, the issue was kept in cold storage.

After assuming charge as the CJI recently, Justice Ramana revived all the pending proposals at various levels across the country and took up with the Prime Minister and Union Law Minister a host of issues concerning the judiciary including the request of Bench strength of Telangana High Court. Both Prime Minister and Union Law Minister readily agreed to get the issues examined expeditiously.

On May 27 this year, the CJI wrote to the Union Law Minister on the urgent need to increase the Bench strength of Telangana High Court, highlighting that the current bench strength was highly inadequate to address the pendency of cases even after filling the existing vacancies. Pointing out that necessary infrastructure was already in place to accommodate 42 judges, the CJI asked the Centre to respond favourably. Accordingly, the Union Ministry of Law and Justice enhanced the sanctioned Bench strength and enabled the CJI to give his final approval to issue a formal notification to fill the vacant posts.