NEW DELHI: The law ministry has notified appointment of four additional judges as permanent judges in the high court of Rajasthan and one in the Uttarakhand HC last week. The vacancies in the 24 HCs stand now at 427.Against a sanctioned strength of 1,079 judges, the 24 HCs currently have a working strength of 652 judges. The law ministry has also notified appointment of Justice Arup Goswami, seniormost judge of the Gauhati HC, as acting chief justice of the HC after incumbent Justice Ajit Singh retires on Thursday.The four additional judges who have been made permanent in the Rajasthan HC are Justices A K Gaur, Manoj Garg, Inderjeet Singh and Virendra Mathur. In Uttarakhand HC, Justice Sharad Sharma has been made a permanent judge of the HC.More than 160 recommendations of various HCs for appointment as judges are at present pending at various stages. The government had recently forwarded a list of 126 recommendations to the SC collegium after vetting which is currently pending with the apex court. Another set of 40 recommendations are pending government scrutiny.