The Bombay High Court's division bench of Acting Chief Justice S. V. Gangapurwala and Justice Santosh Govindrao Chapalgaonkar adjourned a PIL seeking expedition of the high court's appointment process on Monday, observing that no orders are required because a similar petition is pending before the Supreme Court. The court adjourned the case until February 14, 2023, for further consideration.

The Court said "At present, a similar petition is pending before Supreme Court for consideration. Therefore, we find no reason to pass any orders."

Dr. Sharmila Ghuge, a law professor at Mumbai University, filed the PIL, which also requests that retired high court judges be appointed as ad hoc judges under Article 224A of the Constitution until the process of fulfilling the sanctioned strength of judges is completed. Currently, the Bombay High Court has 39 permanent and 26 additional judges, some of whom will retire soon, out of a sanctioned strength of 94.

The petition requests that the Bombay High Court follow the Supreme Court's guidelines on the appointment of ad hoc judges in HCs in Lok Prahari v. Union of India. The guidelines must be followed if a court has more than 20% vacancies. Currently, nearly 31% of the seats on the Bombay High Court are vacant. 

Case Title – Dr. Sharmila Ghuge v. Union of India
Case no. – PIL(L)/26201/2022 [Original]