The Law Ministry’s Department of Justice revealed on October 24, 2021, that 10 additional judges of the Punjab and Haryana High Court have been elevated as permanent judges. The list includes the names of three women additional judges.
Alka Sarin, Meenakshi I Mehta and Archana Puri are the three women additional judges included in the list. Sarin was previously an additional advocate general in Punjab and has experience as a civil litigator. Mehta has served as a district and sessions judge and also presided over the Industrial Tribunal in Haryana, before being made an additional judge. Puri was a district and sessions judge in Punjab, was promoted to additional judgeship in 2019. Others on the same list include Suvir Sehgal, Jasgurpreet Singh Puri, Ashok Kumar Verma, Sant Prakash, Karamjit Singh, Vivek Puri, and Rajesh Bhardwaj.
The High Court of Punjab and Haryana already had four women judges, namely Ritu Bahri, Lisa Gill, Jaishree Thakur, and Manjari Nehru Kaul. The total tally of women judges is now seven, with the inclusion of the three women mentioned above.
The Press Trust of India reveals that additional judges are usually appointed for a period of two years before being elevated to the position of permanent judges. However, as per the figures available on the Law Ministry website, the Punjab and Haryana High Court is functioning with only 45 judges despite having a sanctioned strength of 85 judges. This may be the primary reason why these 10 additional judges have now been elevated, as per the recommendations of the Supreme Court collegium made on October 7, 2021.