Supreme Court Collegium Recommends Ten Additional Judges for Permanent Appointment in Punjab and Haryana High Court
The Voice of Chandigarh News:
The Supreme Court Collegium has recommended the appointment of the following Additional Judges of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana, as permanent Judges of that High Court, in the following terms:
| (i) | Mr Justice Kuldeep Tiwari, |
| (ii) | Mr Justice Gurbir Singh, |
| (iii) | Mr Justice Deepak Gupta, |
| (iv) | Ms Justice Amarjot Bhatti, |
| (v) | Ms Justice Ritu Tagore, |
| (vi) | Ms Justice Manisha Batra, |
| (vii) | Ms Justice Harpreet Kaur Jeewan, |
| (viii) | Ms Justice Sukhvinder Kaur, |
| (ix) | Mr Justice Sanjiv Berry, and |
| (x) | Mr Justice Vikram Aggarwal. |
On 6 October 2023, the Collegium of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana unanimously recommended for appointment of the Additional Judges whose names are set out above as permanent Judges of that High Court. The Chief Ministers and the Governors for the States of Punjab and Haryana have not conveyed their views on the above recommendation. The Department of Justice has forwarded the above recommendation by invoking Para 14 of the Memorandum of Procedure which provides that if the comments of the constitutional authorities in the State are not received within the prescribed time- frame, 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.
In terms of the Memorandum of Procedure, the Judges of the Supreme Court conversant with the affairs of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana were consulted with a view to ascertain the suitability of the above Additional Judges for being appointed as permanent Judges. They have concurrently opined that all the Additional Judges are fit and suitable for confirmation as permanent Judges.
A Committee of two Judges of the Supreme Court constituted by the Chief Justice of India in terms of the Resolution dated 26 October 2017 of the Supreme Court Collegium has assessed the judgments of the above-named Additional Judges. The Committee has rated the quality of their judgments as “very good/good”.
With a view to assess the merit and suitability of the above Additional Judges for appointment as permanent Judges, we have scrutinized 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 (i) Mr Justice Kuldeep Tiwari, (ii) Mr Justice Gurbir Singh, (iii) Mr Justice Deepak Gupta, (iv) Ms Justice Amarjot Bhatti, (v) Ms Justice Ritu Tagore, (vi) Ms Justice Manisha Batra, (vii) Ms Justice Harpreet Kaur Jeewan, (viii) Ms Justice Sukhvinder Kaur, (ix) Mr Justice Sanjiv Berry and (x) Mr Justice Vikram Aggarwal, Additional Judges, are fit and suitable for being appointed as permanent Judges.
In view of the above, the Collegium resolves to recommend that (i) Mr Justice Kuldeep Tiwari, (ii) Mr Justice Gurbir Singh, (iii) Mr Justice Deepak Gupta, (iv) Ms Justice Amarjot Bhatti, (v) Ms Justice Ritu Tagore, (vi) Ms Justice Manisha Batra, (vii) Ms Justice Harpreet Kaur Jeewan, (viii) Ms Justice Sukhvinder Kaur, (ix) Mr Justice Sanjiv Berry and (x) Mr Justice Vikram Aggarwal, Additional Judges, be appointed as permanent Judges of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana against the existing vacancies.
