Seven Judicial Officers Sworn In as Delhi High Court Judges; Working Strength Rises to 50

Seven judicial officers took oath as judges of the Delhi High Court on Monday (September 21, 2026), raising the working strength of the court to 50 against a sanctioned strength of 60.

Chief Justice D.K. Upadhyaya administered the oath of office to Justices Nivedita Anil Sharma, Nisha Sahay Saxena, Sanjay Sharma, Bharat Parashar, Aditi Choudhary, Dinesh Bhatt and Arun Bhardwaj at a ceremony held on the High Court premises. All seven were serving as judicial officers in the district judiciary in Delhi before their elevation.

Justices Sharma and Saxena took the oath in English, while the remaining five took it in Hindi. After the swearing-in, the Chief Justice congratulated the new judges. The seven have been appointed as additional judges of the High Court.

The Central government notified the appointments on September 19, following a recommendation in their favour by the Supreme Court collegium.

Appointments to a High Court are governed by Article 217 of the Constitution. The President appoints a judge after consultation with the Chief Justice of India, the Governor of the State concerned and, in the case of a judge other than the Chief Justice, the Chief Justice of that High Court. In practice, the Supreme Court collegium — headed by the Chief Justice of India and comprising senior-most judges of the Supreme Court — recommends names, and the government issues the notification.

Judicial officers drawn from the subordinate judiciary are eligible for elevation under Article 217(2)(a), which requires a person to have held a judicial office in India for at least ten years. Additional judges are appointed under Article 224(1), which permits the President to appoint additional judges for a period not exceeding two years when the workload of the court or the number of pending cases so requires. Such appointments may subsequently be made permanent.

The Delhi High Court, established on October 31, 1966, has seen its sanctioned strength increase over the decades in step with the growth of litigation in the national capital. With the seven new appointments, ten posts on the court remain vacant.

The addition of judges is significant for a court that handles a large volume of civil, criminal, constitutional and commercial matters, including cases relating to the Union government and authorities in Delhi. High Courts across the country continue to carry a substantial backlog of pending cases, and judicial vacancies have been cited by the judiciary as one of the reasons for delay in the disposal of cases.

The filling of vacancies has been a subject of public discussion in recent years. Governments and the judiciary have at times differed over the pace and procedure of appointments under the Memorandum of Procedure, and successive Chief Justices of India have flagged the issue of continuing vacancies in High Courts. Questions relating to the appointments process have also been the subject of litigation before the Supreme Court.

The swearing-in ceremony on Monday was held at the High Court premises in the presence of sitting judges, senior lawyers and family members of the newly appointed judges. The court is expected to notify the portfolios and roster assignments of the new judges in due course.