With Tuesday’s new appointments, the total number of judges in the high court will now rise to 66.The central government on Tuesday notified the appointment of 10 additional judges to the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
With these appointments, the total number of judges in the high court will now rise to 66. At present, 56 judges are serving in the high court as against the sanctioned 85.
The new judges are Kuldeep Tiwari, an advocate, and judicial officers Gurbir Singh, Deepak Gupta, Amarjot Bhatti, Ritu Tagore, Manisha Batra, Harpreet Kaur Jeewan, Sukhvinder Kaur, Sanjiv Berry and Vikram Aggarwal.
The Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court will administer the oath to the newly appointed additional judges on November 2.
The Supreme Court Collegium in September had recommended names of the nine judicial officers from Punjab and Haryana for elevation as judges to the high court. While five of them are from Punjab Superior Judicial Services, four are from Haryana Superior Judicial Services.
The name of Tiwari was recommended for elevation as a judge by the Punjab and Haryana High Court Collegium in March this year. The name was approved by the Supreme Court Collegium in June.
Also, with these appointments, for the first time since it was established, the Punjab and Haryana High Court will have 13 women judges. The high court currently has eight women judges – Justice Ritu Bahri, Justice Lisa Gill, Justice Jaishree Thakur, Justice Manjari Nehru Kaul, Justice Alka Sarin, Justice Meenakshi I Mehta, Justice Archana Puri, and Justice Nidhi Gupta.
Meanwhile, more than 10 judges will retire next year. Barnala District and Sessions Judge Kamaljit Lamba has been appointed registrar (vigilance) in the high court.
Ramesh Chander Dimri has been appointed registrar-general in the high court.