HC gets six addl judges

Tribune News Service

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Chandigarh, July 10

Functioning at almost half its sanctioned strength, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today got six additional judges. A year after recommendations were made by the high court collegium, Chief Justice Shiavax Jal Vazifdar administered oath to Arvind Singh Sangwan, former additional advocate-general Mahabir Singh Sindhu, former Haryana senior deputy advocate-general Rajbir Sehrawat, senior advocate Anil Kshetrapal, Sudhir Mittal and Avneesh Jhingan.

At a ceremony attended by sitting and retired judges of the high court, relatives and advocates, the judges swore to “bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution as by law established”.

The judges also swore to "uphold the sovereignty and integrity of India" and "duly and faithfully and to the best of ability, knowledge and judgment, perform the duties of the office without fear or favour, affection and ill will".

The number of judges with their elevation has gone up to 53 against the sanctioned strength of 85. As of now, the high court has just 47 judges. The situation is expected to worsen in the coming months with four judges — Justice SS Saron, Justice M Jeyapaul, Justice Rameshwar Singh Malik and Justice Sneh Prashar — retiring this year.

Justice Ajay Kumar Mittal of the high court, the senior most after Justice Saron, is also likely to be elevated as the next Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court in the coming months. Available information suggests that he will be elevated in September after Justice Saron’s retirement.

The effect of shortage of judges is there for all to see. The high court is currently reeling under pendency of more than 2.5 lakh cases.

It is among the top three courts in the country in terms of vacancies; the other two courts facing acute shortage being Allahabad and Madras.