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      | Patna, (Bihar Times): There are 541 vacancies   of
    district and sub-ordinate judges in Bihar. This figure
is highest in   the country. This is followed by Uttar
    Pradesh where their number is short by   513. Chandigarh
    and Lakshadweep were the two exceptions having   full
    strength whereas Nagaland had a shortfall of one
    against the   sanctioned strength of 25.
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         |      This information was given by Minister of Law   and
    Justice H R Bhardwaj in written reply to a question in
    Rajya Sabha on   Monday. The minister said that the
    working strength of various district and   subordinate
    courts, as on September 30, 2007 was 12,439 against
    the   sanctioned strength of 15,672 This means that
    their number is less by 3,233   all over the country.
 The administrative control over the members of   the
    subordinate judiciary in the states are vested with
    the concerned High   Court and the state government.
    Filling up of the vacant posts of   Judges/Magistrates
    in Subordinate Courts is the concern of the   respective
    High Courts and the State Governments.
 
 The process of   initiation of proposal for appointment
    of Judges of a High Court lies with   the Chief Justice
    of that High Court. The Government has, however,   been
    requesting the Chief Justices of the High Courts,
    Chief Ministers and   the Governors of the States from
    time to time to initiate proposals for   filling up of
    the present and vacancies anticipated during the next
    six   months. There are 99 vacancies of judges in
    various High Courts in the   country.
 
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