Seven HCs working without full-time chief justice

NEW DELHI: When chief justice of the Karnataka high court Justice S K Mukherjee retires on October 9, seven high courts across the country will be functioning without a full-time chief justice.

As of today, the high courts of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Calcutta, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand and Manipur are functioning without a full-time chief justice, law ministry data says.

As per the data, the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana high court have been functioning with an acting chief justice since July 30, 2016, while the Calcutta high court has an acting chief justice since December 1, 2016.

Acting chief justices were appointed to the Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand and Manipur high courts this year.

Justice Mukherjee's name was recommended for transfer to the Uttarakhand high court in May last year and Uttarakhand high court chief justice K M Joseph's name was recommended for transfer to the Andhra Pradesh/Telangana HC.

However, the government is yet to take a call on the two recommendations of the Supreme Court collegium.

The collegium may soon take a call to appoint chief justices in these high courts.

As on September 1, while the approved strength of judges in the 24 high courts stood at 1,079, there were 413 vacancies and these high courts were functioning with an effective working strength of 666 judges.