Centre notifies appointment of new judges in seven high courts

The Centre on Wednesday notified the appointment of advocates Harmeeet Singh Grewal and Deepinder Singh Nalwa as Additional Judges of Punjab and Haryana High Court.

“In exercise of the power conferred by clause (1) of Article 224 of the Constitution of India, the President is pleased to appoint S/Shri (i) Harmeet Singh Grewal and (ii) Deepinder Singh Nalwa, to be Additional Judges of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, for a period of two years, in that order of seniority, with effect from the date they assume charge of their respective offices,” a Department of Justice notification read.

Nalwa’s name has been under consideration for several years with the Collegium recommending his name and the Department of Justice raising certain objections.

However, in October 2023, the Supreme Court Collegium led by the then CJI Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud overruled the Department of Justice, saying, “These inputs are vague and the Government in this regard has fairly stated that there is nothing on record to substantiate these adverse inputs. All the three Consultee-Judges have unanimously given a positive opinion on the suitability of the candidate (Nalwa) for appointment as a judge of the high court.”

In October 2023, the Supreme Court Collegium recommended the names of advocates Harmeet Singh Grewal, Deepinder Singh Nalwa, Sumeet Goel, Sudeepti Sharma and Kirti Singh for appointment as judges of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, saying they were “fit and suitable” for appointment.

While the Centre notified the appointment of advocates Sumeet Goel, Sudeepti Sharma and Kirti Singh on November 2, 2023, it sat over the Collegium’s recommendation for appointment of advocates Harmeet Singh Grewal and Deepinder Singh Nalwa as judges.

Finally, the appointment of Grewal and Nalwa was notified on Wednesday.

The Department of Justice also notifies the appointment of one judge each in the Delhi (Tejas Dhirenbhai Karia), Uttarakhand (Alok Mahra), Madhya Pradesh (Ashish Shroti), Karnataka (Taj Ali Moulasab Nadaf), Calcutta (Chaitali Chatterjee Das) and Guwahati (Yarenjungla Longlcumer) High Courts.