The law ministry has notified the appointment of seven new judges to the Delhi High Court, including two permanent and five additional judges. The appointments were recommended by the Supreme Court collegium and notified on Saturday. The oath of office will be administered on Monday. The new judges include Nivedita Anil Sharma and Nisha Sahay Saxena, who have been made permanent judges, and Sanjay Sharma, Bharat Parashar, Dinesh Bhatt, Arun Bhardwaj, and Aditi Choudhary, who have been appointed as additional judges for two years.

The Delhi High Court is among the 25 high courts in the country with 304 vacant posts against a sanctioned strength of 1,122 judges as of September 1. The Allahabad High Court has the highest number of vacant posts at 53, followed by the Calcutta High Court with 23 and the Punjab and Haryana High Court with 21. The Supreme Court collegium has made several recommendations for elevation to high courts, but many remain pending due to procedural issues.

The appointments reflect the government's ongoing effort to address the shortage of judges in the country's high courts. The collegium, which is responsible for recommending judicial appointments, has been working to fill vacancies, but the process has been slowed by administrative delays. The new appointments to the Delhi High Court are part of a larger batch of 14 judges notified for four high courts, including Karnataka, Jharkhand, and J&K and Ladakh.

The Delhi High Court's new judges include judicial officers who have previously served in lower courts. Nivedita Anil Sharma and Nisha Sahay Saxena are among the permanent appointments, while the others are serving as additional judges for a two-year term. The appointments are expected to ease the workload of existing judges and improve the efficiency of the court.

The Supreme Court collegium has not commented on the pending recommendations. The law ministry has not issued a statement on the impact of the new appointments on the judiciary's functioning.

The situation highlights the broader issue of judicial vacancies in India, which has been a long-standing concern. The shortage of judges has led to delays in case disposal and increased workloads for existing judges. The government has acknowledged the problem and has taken steps to address it, but the pace of appointments remains a challenge. The new appointments to the Delhi High Court are a step in the right direction, but the larger issue of judicial vacancies requires sustained attention and action.