Five lawyers to be elevated as judges

Chandigarh, August 28

Facing a pendency of more than 4.7 lakh cases with a shortage of 37 judges, the Punjab and Haryana High Court collegium has recommended the names of five advocates for elevation.

This is in addition to five names already cleared by the Supreme Court collegium for elevation as HC judges.

The HC collegium of Chief Justice Krishna Murari, Justice Rajiv Sharma and Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain has reportedly recommended the names of Sant Pal Singh Sidhu, Rajesh Sharma Bharadwaj, Pankaj Jain, Partap Singh and Hemant Bassi.

The process of their elevation is likely to take some time. The names after being considered by the HC collegium will go to the Governors of Punjab and Haryana, then to the Law Ministry, before going to the SC collegium for final consideration. The names finalised by the collegium will then go back to the Law Ministry before going to the President prior to the issuance of appointment orders.

As of now, the HC has 48 judges against the sanctioned strength of 85. It is down by seven since December last year, when the number had increased to 55. — TNS