16 judges retiring in 2 yrs, Punjab and Haryana High Court stares at crisis
Saurabh Malik
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, January 4
The Punjab and Haryana High Court is staring at a crisis as 16 of its judges are retiring in the next two years. The High Court collegium had last met almost three years back for recommending the names of sessions judges for elevation and nearly one-and-a-half years back for advocates. The HC will reopen on Wednesday after a short winter break with a shortage of 36 judges and a pendency of over 4,47,890 cases.
Collegium suggested elevation of judicial officers in ’19
Available information suggests that the last time the collegium recommended the names of judicial officers for elevation as High Court judges was on March 14, 2019. As many as seven judicial officers were recommended for elevation by the then Chief Justice in consultation with his two senior colleagues.
The Supreme Court collegium finally recommended the elevation of six judicial officers in September 2019 and they were administered the oath in November 2019. It is believed that at least six senior District and Sessions Judges in Haryana have retired since the collegium last finalised and forwarded the names for elevation. The number is believed to be almost the same in Punjab.
Even if the names are finalised now for elevation, it will take a long time for the completion of process. A testimony to this effect is provided by the fact that five advocates recommended for elevation in August 2020 were administered oath as the High Court judges only in October last year.
The process of appointing judges is, in fact, lengthy and time consuming. Once cleared by the states and the Governors after recommendations of the High Court collegium, the file containing the names with intelligence bureau reports is placed before the SC collegium when it meets. The names cleared for 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 priority basis.
Justice Ajay Tewari and Justice Sant Parkash are retiring in April this year, followed by Justice Fateh Deep Singh in July and Justice Amol Rattan Singh in August. Justice Rajan Gupta of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, posted as a judge of the Patna High Court, too, retires in September 22.
The Judges retiring next year are Justice Tejinder Singh Dhindsa, Justice Harinder Singh Sidhu, Justice BS Walia, Justice Jaishree Thakur, Justice Harminder Singh Madaan, Justice Sudhir Mittal, Justice Harnaresh Singh Gill and Justice Ashok Kumar Verma.
Justice Jaswant Singh and Justice Sabina, Judges of the Punjab and Haryana High Court but transferred out, also retire next year. The tenure of the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court, Justice Rajesh Bindal, whose parent High Court is the Punjab and Haryana, will end in April 2023, if not elevated to the Supreme Court.
