The Supreme Court Collegium has recommended the elevation of two judicial officers as judges of the Punjab & Haryana High Court.

The three seniormost judges also remitted the name of one judicial officer for reconsideration by the Chief Justice of the High Court. The Collegium agreed with the High Court on the non-elevation of another judicial officer.

Lalit Batra and Arun Kumar Tyagi have been recommended for elevation after the Collegium scrutinized the material on record and interacted with the judicial officers.

The resolution also notes:

“As per record, the above proposal involves non-recommendation of three senior Judicial Officers. We are informed that the names of two of them were rejected by the Supreme Court Collegium in its meeting held on 4/6th April, 2017.

As regards the third senior Judicial Officer, on perusal of the Minutes dated 5th April, 2018 the High Court Collegium has recorded reasons for not recommending her name which, according to us, are fully acceptable.”

In a separate resolution, the Collegium remitted the name of Neena Chaudhary. That resolution states,

“On the basis of interaction and having regard to all relevant factors, the Collegium is of the view that the above proposal deserves to be remitted to the Chief Justice of the Punjab & Haryana High Court.”

The High Court currently has 35 vacancies as against an approved strength of 85. Two more judges – Justices MMS Bedi and Jaspal Singh – retired this month, taking the vacancies to 37.

Read the resolutions: