SC recommends seven to be elevated as Rajasthan High Court judges

JAIPUR: The Rajasthan High Court is likely to get seven new judges soon, taking the total number of judges to 28. The Supreme Court collegium has recommended the elevation and sent the names of seven judges to the Centre for approval. Out of the seven, one will be appointed from the court while six others will be elevated from judicial services.
Currently, there are 21 judges in the high court, including the chief justice, against the total approved posts of 50 judges.
Devendra Kachhawa
The collegium meeting held on January 20, chaired by Supreme Court Chief Justice, gave the nod to elevate advocate Manish Sisodia as a high court judge. Others who are to be elevated are Devendra Kachhawa, Satish Kumar Sharma, Prabha Sharma, Manoj Kumar Vyas, Rameshwar Vyas and Chandra Kumar Songera.
Three high court judges—Justice Mahendra Maheshwari (March 31), Justice GR Moolchandani (April 2) and Justice Abhay Chaturvedi (September 9)—are set to retire this year.
Manoj Kumar Vyas
The high court has had a shortage of judges since May 2018 when nine out of the 11 names sent by the HC collegium to be considered for elevation were sent back.
According to high court sources, there are nearly 4.53 lakh pending cases till November 2019, which include nearly 2.74 lakh with the Jaipur bench and 1.79 lakh with the Jodhpur bench.