Centre approves elevation of 11 judges as permanent judges of Punjab and Haryana High Court
Day after Supreme Court gave government a week to explain delay in appointments, transfers of judges
A day after the Supreme Court gave the government a week to explain the delay in the appointment and transfer of 70 high court judges and threatened that it might not sit quietly, the Centre on Wednesday approved the elevation of 11 justices as permanent judges of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
Judges are originally appointed as additional judges of a high court for a one- or two-year term, and they are only thereafter upgraded to the position of permanent judges.
An official order issued by Rajinder Kashyap, special secretary to the Government of India, ministry of law and justice, said the following additional judges of Punjab and Haryana High Court had been appointed as permanent judges of that court: Justices Nidhi Gupta, Sanjay Vashisth, Tribhuvan Dahiya, Namit Kumar, Harkesh Manuja, Aman Chaudhary, Naresh Singh, Harsh Bunger, Jagmohan Bansal, Deepak Manchanda and Alok Jain.
According to the decree, the appointments are in place "with effect from the date they assume charge of their respective offices."
It was not immediately obvious if these 11 judges were among the 70 names that the collegium had recommended and that had been pending since last November for varied lengths of time.
The Centre was criticized for delaying the appointment or transfer of 70 judges from different high courts, including the chief justice of a "sensitive" high court, by a bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia on Tuesday.
Since February 6, the high court in conflict-torn Manipur has been without a regular chief justice, and on June 5, the Supreme Court issued a recommendation.
After Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, Justice Kaul, who is the bench's leader and the second-oldest member of the collegium, made it clear on Tuesday that the top court would not tolerate any more delays: "Today I am quiet because the attorney-general (R. Venkataramani) says he wants one week's time. I might not be quiet the next time.
On the AG's request, the court briefly continued the case for additional hearing to October 9.
