Supreme Court Collegium to Interview 33 Candidates for Allahabad High Court Vacancies
The Supreme Court Collegium, led by Chief Justice of India BR Gavai, will hold interactions with 33 candidates to fill vacancies in the Allahabad High Court. These interactions are scheduled for Monday and will include 20 judicial officers and 13 lawyers.
The Allahabad High Court has a sanctioned strength of 160 judges but is functioning with nearly half the number. With three proposed transfers—Justice Sanjay Kumar Singh, Justice Rohit Ranjan Agarwal, and Justice Donadi Ramesh—the vacancies will rise to 77, subject to approval by the Central government.
The Collegium has been actively working to address judicial shortages across the country. Recently, it recommended the appointment of 14 advocates as judges of the Bombay High Court and has filled around 60 vacancies in different High Courts so far.
The issue of judicial vacancies at the Allahabad High Court has also reached the court itself. In a recent PIL, the High Court sought the State’s response on the urgent need for time-bound appointments. The plea highlighted the severe backlog, noting that Uttar Pradesh, with a population of 24 crore and over 11.5 lakh pending cases, has just one judge for every 30 lakh people. On average, each judge is burdened with 14,623 pending cases.
