three-new-judges-sworn-in-at-delhi-high-court

The Delhi High Court got three new judges after Justices Dinesh Mehta, Avneesh Jhingan and Chandrasekharan Sudha were sworn in on Tuesday.

 

Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya administered the oath of office to the new judges.The transfer of the three justices was notified by the Central government on October 14 after the Supreme Court Collegium recommendations.While Justices Mehta and Jhingan have been transferred to Delhi from the Rajasthan High Court, Justice Sudha was a judge of the Kerala High Court.

 

Notably, six judges, Justices V Kameswar Rao, Nitin Wasudeo Sambre, Vivek Chaudhary, Om Prakash Shukla, Anil Kshetarpal and Arun Kumar Monga had recently taken oath as the judges of the Delhi High Court after their transfer from other High Courts.This had led to concerns from the Bar that the move was diminishing opportunities for local advocates to be elevated to the Bench.

 

Interestingly, of the six who took oath at the Delhi High Court in July, Justice Monga (whose parent High Court is the Punjab and Haryana High Court) has again been transferred, this time to the Rajasthan High Court.Pertinently,  Delhi High Court has a sanctioned strength of 60 judges (45 permanent and 15 additional). However, the current working strength is below this number due to vacancies. For example, recent news reported the strength to be 43 or 40 after several new appointments, but the total number of judges can change as appointments are made.  

 The actual number of judges currently serving is lower than the sanctioned strength due to vacancies.  News reports from July 2025 indicate the strength rose to 40 after six new judges were sworn in, followed by reports of the strength reaching 44 after one more judge was sworn in August 2025. The number of judges has changed frequently due to recent appointments and will continue to do so as appointments are made or vacancies arise.