Punjab and Haryana High Court stares at crisis, 7 judges retiring this year

Saurabh Malik

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Chandigarh, May 3

The crisis in the Punjab and Haryana High Court is far from over. Its collegium comprising the Chief Justice and two senior-most Judges has recommended the names of nine advocates for their elevation as High Court Judges after more than a year. But seven permanent judges are retiring this year.

4.39 lakh cases pending

• The High Court is functioning with just 66 Judges against the sanctioned strength of 85
• As of now, the High Court has a total pendency of 4,39,221 cases

According to information, the names of advocates Sudipti Sharma, Kirti Singh, Rajesh Gaur, Minderjeet Yadav, Pravindra Chauhan, DS Nalwa, HS Grewal, Sumeet Goel and Rohit Kapoor have been cleared by the collegium.

It is believed that the file containing the names has also been forwarded to the Governors. But the process may take some time. The process of appointing judges is, in fact, lengthy and time-consuming. Once cleared by the Governors after the recommendation by the High Court collegium, the file containing the names with intelligence bureau reports is placed before the Supreme Court collegium when it meets. The names cleared for the elevation are then sent to the Union Law Ministry before their warrants of appointment are signed by the President. The entire exercise can take several months, if not taken up on a priority basis.

The High Court is functioning with just 66 Judges against the sanctioned strength of 85. As of now, the High Court has a total pendency of 4,39,221 cases. These include 1,65,294 criminal matters involving life and liberty. As many as 83,204 cases are pending up to one year, 51,012 between one and three years and 1,13,137 between five and 10 years.

The Judges scheduled to retire are Justice Harinder Singh Sidhu, Justice Sudhir Mittal, Justice Ashok Kumar Verma, Justice Jaishree Thakur, Justice HS Madan, Justice BS Walia and Justice Harnaresh Singh Gill.

Chief Justice Ravi Shanker Jha will retire in October. The name of Justice Augustine George Masih, the first puisne Judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, has been cleared for the elevation as the Chief Justice of the Rajasthan High Court, while Justice MS Ramachandra Rao’s name has been recommended for the appointment as the Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court.