Supreme Court collegium recommends appointment of 10 additional judges of Punjab and Haryana High Court as permanent judges

Saurabh Malik

Chandigarh, February 13

Even though the chief ministers and governors of Punjab and Haryana did not convey their views, the Supreme Court collegium has recommended the appointment of 10 additional judges as permanent judges of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court collegium on October 6, 2023, had unanimously recommended the appointment of additional judges as permanent judges. But the chief ministers and governors did not convey their views on the recommendation.

The Department of Justice then forwarded the recommendation by invoking the provisions of the Memorandum of Procedure, which provide that “if the comments of the constitutional authorities in the state are not received within the prescribed timeframe, it should be presumed by the Minister of Law and Justice that the governor and the chief minister have nothing to add to the proposal and proceed accordingly”.

The Supreme Court judges conversant with the affairs of Punjab and Haryana High Court were then consulted in terms of the ‘Memorandum of Procedure’ to ascertain their suitability for appointment as permanent judges. They concurrently expressed the opinion that all the additional judges were fit and suitable for confirmation as permanent. A committee of two Supreme Court judges, constituted by the Chief Justice of India in terms of a resolution, also assessed their judgments before rating the quality as very good/good.

“With a view to assessing the merit and suitability of the additional judges for appointment as permanent judges, we have scrutinised the material placed on record, including the opinion of the consultee-judges and the report of the judgment evaluation committee. The Collegium is of the considered view that Justice Kuldeep Tiwari, Justice Gurbir Singh, Justice Deepak Gupta, Justice Amarjot Bhatti, Justice Ritu Tagore, Justice Manisha Batra, Justice Harpreet Kaur Jeewan, Justice Sukhvinder Kaur, Justice Sanjiv Berry and Justice Vikram Aggarwal, Additional Judges, are fit and suitable for being appointed as permanent judges,” the collegium, comprising CJI DY Chandrachud, Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice BR Gavai added.