5 women judicial officers among nine recommended by SC for elevation as judges

The development comes three days after the high court upheld the seniority list of Haryana Superior Judicial Service officers

: The Supreme Court collegium has recommended elevation of nine judicial officers from Punjab and Haryana, including five women officers as judges of the high court.

5 women judicial officers among nine recommended by Supreme Court for elevation as judges

These include Gurbir Singh, district and sessions judge, Chandigarh; Deepak Gupta, district and sessions judge, Panchkula; Amarjot Bhatti, district and sessions judge, Hoshiarpur; Ritu Tagore, district and sessions judge, (principal judge, family court), Ambala; Manisha Batra, district and sessions judge, Panipat; Harpreet Kaur Jeewan, district and sessions judge, Rupnagar; Sukhwinder Kaur, district and sessions judge (presiding officer, state transport authority, Punjab); Sanjiv Berry, registrar general, Punjab and Haryana high court and Vikram Aggarwal, district and sessions judge (registrar vigilance, high court).

The development comes three days after the high court upheld the seniority list of Haryana Superior Judicial Service officers. The dispute over the seniority was pending adjudication since August 2015. The final notification on appointments comes from the Central government.

The high court currently has a strength of 56 judges and if all the recommendations are approved, the number would be 65, highest number of judges the high court ever had.

The sanctioned strength of judges at high court is 85. However, the number has rarely touched 60. The current strength of women judges is eight and if all recommendations are approved, the number would go up to 13, also being termed highest number of women judges in the high court.