Queency Jain –
After the intervention of CJI NV Ramana, the Ministry of Law & Justice has approved the request of the Telangana High Court to increase the strength of the bench by 75%.
The strength of the bench will increase from 24 Judges to 42 Judges where out of a total of 42 Judges, 32 will be permanent and 10 will be additional judges.
The decision of approval is one of the biggest hikes in judicial strength. Though the proposal was pending with the Union Ministry for 2 years, the same got approved after the intervention of CJI and will come into effect from 8 June.
The proposal was first sent to the Union Minister of Law & Justice in 2019 after it was duly approved by the Chief Minister and the Governor of Telangana.
Noticing the spike of pending cases in the state, CJI discussed the matter with the Union Minister of Law & Justice on 27 May 2021 after which the Ministry approved the decision of increasing the strength of the bench on 7 June 2021.
After the approval of the Union Ministry, the same was duly signed by the CJI NV Ramana on 8 June 2021.
The approval also stated that the appointment of Judges from Judicial services will be on 14 seats while 28 seats will be from the elevation from the bar,
Earlier before the decision, the Telangana High Court was functioning with only 14 Judges thereby having 10 vacancies.