18 new judges likely to be appointed by next week

New Delhi: Nearly 18 new judges are likely to be appointed by next week, days after five judges were elevated as chief justices.

Sources said files relating to fresh appointments have been cleared at the highest level and may reach Rashtrapati Bhawan in the coming days.

While most of the fresh appointments relate to Madras High Court, some others belong to Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh high courts.

There are nearly 74 recommendations of the collegium under process at the government's end. Most of the recommendations are likely to fructify into appointments by the end of September, barring "a few" cases where the executive and the judiciary have "difference of opinion," they said.

Usually, the process of appointing judges takes between 60 to 75 days.

Some 35 files related to elevation of judges as chief justices of high courts and those related to fresh appointments are pending in the "advanced stages" with the government.

Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi had on Wednesday last told the Supreme Court that "there is progress in the appointments... We will see more progress".

Judiciary and executive have seen at variance over appointment of judges in the recent past.