The 10 additional judges of Punjab and Haryana High Court have been appointed by the Supreme Court collegium as permanent judges.
The judges who have been elevated to yhe position include been Justice Kuldeep Tiwari,justice 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.
The Supreme Court collegium has recommended the permanent judges of the Punjab and Haryana High Court although the chief ministers and governor of Punjab and Haryana did not convey their views on the same.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court collegium on October 6, 2023, had unanimously recommended the appointment of additional judges as permanent judges.
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 Collegium then approached judges who were conversant with the affairs of Punjab and Haryana High Court and were asked on the ‘Memorandum of Procedure’ to ascertain their suitability for appointment as permanent judges.
The conversant judges said that they believed 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.