Chandigarh, October 27
Five advocates of the Punjab and Haryana HC will be administered oath as judges following their elevation. The advocates to be sworn in are Vikas Suri, Vinod Sharma Bhardwaj, Pankaj Jain, Jasjit Singh Bedi and Sandeep Moudgil.
The names were cleared for elevation by the Supreme Court collegium in September after being forwarded by the Centre in April this year. The HC collegium had initially made the recommendation for their elevation in August last year.
In numbers
50 No of judges, including 5 new
85 Sanctioned strength
7 Judges retired this year
1 Will retire in December
5 Will retire next year
4L Cases pending in HC
Suri and Bhardwaj have been practising on the civil side and dealing with constitutional matters. Among other things, Suri has been conducting cases for the Punjab and Haryana High Court in Chandigarh and its subordinate courts since March 2010. Jain has been the UT senior standing counsel with proficiency in service law and other civil matters. Bedi, on the other hand, is renowned for his practice on the criminal side and has been handling high-profile cases as well. Moudgil has been representing the state of Haryana as an Additional Advocate-General.
The number of judges with their elevation will go up to 50 against the sanctioned strength of 85. The National Judicial Data Grid, the monitoring tool to identify, manage and reduce pendency of cases, indicates the pendency of more than four lakh cases in the HC. — TNS
Punjab and Haryana High Court to get 5 more judges
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