Judge shortage crisis worsens in Punjab and Haryana High Court despite elevation recommendations

The crisis in the Punjab and Haryana High Court following shortage of judges and a mounting backlog of cases is far from over. Even though the high court collegium is in the process of finalising the names of 15 District and Sessions Judges for elevation, the judicial infrastructure remains under strain as the process of appointing high court judges is cumbersome.

The high court collegium, headed by Chief Justice Sheel Nagu with Justice Arun Palli and Justice Lisa Gill as members, made a significant move by initiating the process of recommending 15 District and Sessions Judges for elevation—marking an unprecedented effort to fill judicial vacancies.  This is the first time in recallable past that as many as 15 names from this category are to be recommend in one go.

The collegium, which convened last week, proposed eight names from Punjab—Virinder Aggarwal, Mandeep Pannu, Harpal Singh, Munish Singhal, Amarinder Singh Grewal, Harpreet Kaur Randhawa, Rupinderjit Chahal, and Rajinder Aggarwal. From Haryana, the recommendations include Parmod Goyal, Shalini Singh Nagpal, Subhas Mehla, Surya Pratap Singh, Puneesh Jindia, Aradhna Sawhney, and YS Rathore.

The recommendations come after a gap of more than two years. The last appointment from the category was made in November 2022.

But the process of appointing judges remains a lengthy and multi-layered one, requiring approvals from state governments, Governors, the Supreme Court collegium and Union Law Ministry. Each of these stages can take months, leaving the high court functioning with only 51 judges out of a sanctioned strength of 85. Three more judges are set to retire this year, further worsening the shortage.

The court is currently burdened with a backlog of 4,32,227 cases, with nearly 85 per cent of them pending for over a year, and some cases lingering for up to four decades. Of these, 2,68,279 are civil matters, while 1,63,948 are criminal cases. Data shows that 30 per cent of these cases have remained unresolved for 5 to 10 years, and 29 per cent for over a decade.

Available information suggest that the high court is also in the process of recommending names of advocates for elevation, but the process is believed to be in its initial stages.