Chandigarh: While the Punjab and Haryana high court is waiting for the transfer orders of four judges who have been recommended to be shifted to other high courts, it has been reliably learnt that the names of five district and sessions judges from the states of Punjab and Haryana are also under active consideration for elevation as HC judge through promotion.
It is expected that the notification regarding transfer of Justice Arvind Singh Sangwan to Allahabad, Justice Avneesh Jhingan to Gujarat, Justice Raj Mohan Singh to Madhya Pradesh and Justice Arun Monga to Rajasthan high court is expected to be cleared and notified this month.
Apart from these four, Justice Lapita Banerji of the Calcutta high court has also been recommended for transfer to the HC at Chandigarh. The SC collegium had recommended their transfers to the Centre On August 3, and sources attribute the delay to the G20 Summit.
Meanwhile, the names of nine high court lawyers, D S Nalwa, Sumeet Goel (senior advocate), Sudeepti Sharma, Kirti Singh, Rajesh Gaur, Minderjeet Yadav, H S Grewal, Rohit Kapoor and Pravindra Singh, that were recommended by the high court collegium in April are also expected to be considered by the SC collegium soon. According to procedure, the verification of antecedents from the ministry of home affairs (MHA) and other agencies has already been done.
However, information accessed by TOI from the ministry in Delhi, revealed that there were a large number of complaints against some of them.
Some of these pertain to incompetency, strong political affiliations, irregular legal practice before high court, lesser number of cases/legal cases handled as lawyer and integrity. In one case, some documents related to reports of Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) have also been annexed regarding some procedural irregularities during his tenure in government service. In other cases, it has been alleged that the number of cases conducted by them as a lawyer were not good enough to make him eligible for such a coveted position and irregularities when the lawyer was an office-bearer of an institution related to legal fraternity. Some of these are supported by documents procured by the complainants under the RTI and other material.
The sources in the ministry said it was natural to get a large number of complaints when a lawyer’s name was recommended for elevation. “Each and every aspect of the complaints is checked and verified before placing a final report to the authority. It is a routine matter,” the source added.
The Punjab and Haryana high court is one of the largest HCs in the country, having jurisdiction over the states of Punjab, Haryana and UT Chandigarh. At present, 58 judges are working against the sanctioned strength of 85 judges.
The HC has a pendency of around 4.40 lakh cases at present.
It is expected that the notification regarding transfer of Justice Arvind Singh Sangwan to Allahabad, Justice Avneesh Jhingan to Gujarat, Justice Raj Mohan Singh to Madhya Pradesh and Justice Arun Monga to Rajasthan high court is expected to be cleared and notified this month.
Apart from these four, Justice Lapita Banerji of the Calcutta high court has also been recommended for transfer to the HC at Chandigarh. The SC collegium had recommended their transfers to the Centre On August 3, and sources attribute the delay to the G20 Summit.
Meanwhile, the names of nine high court lawyers, D S Nalwa, Sumeet Goel (senior advocate), Sudeepti Sharma, Kirti Singh, Rajesh Gaur, Minderjeet Yadav, H S Grewal, Rohit Kapoor and Pravindra Singh, that were recommended by the high court collegium in April are also expected to be considered by the SC collegium soon. According to procedure, the verification of antecedents from the ministry of home affairs (MHA) and other agencies has already been done.
However, information accessed by TOI from the ministry in Delhi, revealed that there were a large number of complaints against some of them.
Some of these pertain to incompetency, strong political affiliations, irregular legal practice before high court, lesser number of cases/legal cases handled as lawyer and integrity. In one case, some documents related to reports of Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) have also been annexed regarding some procedural irregularities during his tenure in government service. In other cases, it has been alleged that the number of cases conducted by them as a lawyer were not good enough to make him eligible for such a coveted position and irregularities when the lawyer was an office-bearer of an institution related to legal fraternity. Some of these are supported by documents procured by the complainants under the RTI and other material.
The sources in the ministry said it was natural to get a large number of complaints when a lawyer’s name was recommended for elevation. “Each and every aspect of the complaints is checked and verified before placing a final report to the authority. It is a routine matter,” the source added.
The Punjab and Haryana high court is one of the largest HCs in the country, having jurisdiction over the states of Punjab, Haryana and UT Chandigarh. At present, 58 judges are working against the sanctioned strength of 85 judges.
The HC has a pendency of around 4.40 lakh cases at present.
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