Latest News : PUNJAB & HARYANA HIGH COURT GETS NEW JUDGE, JUSTICE SANJEEV PRAKASH SHARMA TRANSFERRED FROM PATNA HIGH COURT

PUNJAB & HARYANA HIGH COURT GETS NEW JUDGE, JUSTICE SANJEEV PRAKASH SHARMA TRANSFERRED FROM PATNA HIGH COURT

SEVEN JUDGES ARE HOWEVER SCHEDULED TO RETIRE IN NEXT FIVE MONTHS — ADVOCATE

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Chandigarh — The working strength of Punjab and Haryana High Court at Chandigarh has increased to one more to 67 out of total approved strength of 85 with today 27 April 2023 the Department of Justice under Union Ministry of Law & Justice issuing a Notification transferring Justice Sanjeev Prakash Sharma, Judge of Patna High Court to Punjab and Haryana High Court.

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Meanwhile Hemant Kumar, an Advocate at Punjab and Haryana High Court said that the Parent High Court of Justice Sanjeev Prakash Sharma is however the Rajasthan High Court. He was elevated as Additional Judge (from Bar) there on 16 Nov 2016 and was made Permanent Judge on 16 March 2018. He was thereafter transferred from Rajasthan High Court and joined Patna High Court in Jan, 2022. His superannuation is scheduled in Sep, 2026.

Pertinent that earlier this month, Harpreet Singh Brar was sworn in as Additional Judge of Punjab and Haryana High Court which raised the total strength of Judges in 66.

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Meanwhile, recently on 17 April, the Supreme Court Collegium recommended the elevation of six Additional Judges of Punjab and Haryana High Court viz. Vikas Bahl, Vikas Suri, Sandeep Moudgil, Vinod Sharma (Bhardwaj), Pankaj Jain and Jasjit Singh Bedi as Permanent Judges against the existing vacancies.

Hemant told that the total approved strength of Punjab & Haryana High Court is 85 with 64 Permanent Judges and 21 Additional Judges. As on date, currently there are 38 Permanent Judges and 28 Additional Judges. Now with appointment of Justice Sanjeev Prakash Sharma, who is a Permanent Judge, would raise the strength of Permanent Judges in Punjab & Haryana High Court to 39 and when the SC Collegium recommendation dated 17 April as mentioned hereinbefore would be accepted and notified by the Central Government, the strength of Permanent Judges in Punjab and Haryana High Court would be further increased to 45.

However, in this year 2023 seven Permanent Judges of Punjab and Haryana High Court are due to retire which include Justice Harinder Singh Sidhu on 16 May, Justice Sudhir Mittal on 5 June, Justice Ashok Kumar Verma on 8 June, Justice Jaishree Thakur on 23 July, Justice HS Madan on 3 Aug, Justice BS Walia on 27 Aug and Justice Harnaresh Singh Gill on 25 Sep. Apart from this, the incumbent Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court, Justice Ravi Shankar Jha’s superannuation is also scheduled for 13 Oct 2023. His Parent High Court is Madhya Pradesh High Court. However, before retirement, he might get elevated as a Judge in the Supreme Court of India and thus remain as Judge in the Apex Court till Oct, 2026.