Delhi High Court Gets Five Additional Judges

Five judicial officers, Sanjay Sharma, Bharat Parashar, Dinesh Bhatt, Arun Bhardwaj and Aditi Choudhary, have been appointed Additional Judges of the Delhi High Court, according to the notification.

The Delhi High Court handles one of the country's highest case volumes given its jurisdiction over the national capital, and additional judicial appointments have been a recurring feature of its administration as pendency across civil, criminal and commercial matters continues to build. The court's original side jurisdiction, which covers a wide range of company and intellectual property litigation given Delhi's concentration of corporate headquarters, has been a particular driver of rising case filings in recent years.

The five appointees include officers rising through the subordinate judiciary route, a path that requires a defined minimum tenure as district judges before eligibility for High Court elevation, reflecting the customary mix through which High Court benches are strengthened. District judiciary elevations of this kind typically draw on officers who have presided over complex civil and criminal trials at the sessions level, giving them direct courtroom experience the Collegium weighs alongside their administrative record.

The appointments follow the standard Collegium process, in which the Delhi High Court's own Collegium first recommends names, which then move through the Supreme Court Collegium and the Union Law Ministry before formal notification is issued. The process for a batch of five names typically takes longer than for a single appointment, since each name is separately vetted before the full list moves forward together.

The addition of five judges in a single notification is among the larger batches the court has received this year, part of a continuing effort to close the gap between sanctioned and working judge strength that most High Courts, including Delhi's, have carried for extended periods. The court's own case-management reports have periodically flagged pendency in its commercial and arbitration-related benches as a particular area where additional judicial strength is needed.

Once sworn in, the five will be assigned to benches under the Chief Justice's roster, taking up civil, criminal, commercial and writ matters, adding capacity to a court whose commercial division in particular has seen a steady rise in filings tied to Delhi's status as a hub for company litigation, alongside a substantial volume of writ petitions arising from the city's dense concentration of central government offices and regulatory bodies.

The appointments were notified this week, with the five Additional Judges expected to be sworn in shortly after.