NEW DELHI: The law ministry notified the appointments of 30 judges for the high courts of Madras, Calcutta, Karnataka and MP on Saturday. The highest number of 15 judges have been appointed in the Madras high court, followed by eight in the Calcutta high court, six in Karnataka high court and one in MP high court.There are 25 high courts in the country; together they had 341 vacancies against a sanctioned strength of 1,112 judges.In the latest notifications, of the 30 appointments, seven are judicial officers who have been elevated to the HC benches, while 23 are advocates. Some of them have been appointed permanent judges, while most others have been appointed as additional judges for a two-year tenure, after which they will be evaluated and considered for being made a permanent judge.

In the 25 high courts across the country, over 60 lakh cases are pending, of which 80,000 cases are pending for over three decades.The law minister has blamed the respective HC collegium for not following the timeline prescribed for initiating recommendations for appointments of judges for the HCs, the primary reason behind large vacancies. The HC collegium comprises the chief justice and two senior-most judges of the HC.