Centre notifies elevation of advocates as Addl Judges of HCs

NEW DELHI: The Central Government on Thursday notified the elevation of four advocates as Additional Judges of Allahabad High Court and Madras High Court.

Taking to Twitter, the Minister of Law and Justice Kiren Rijiju on Thursday also wished newly appointed Judges, saying, "As per relevant provisions under the Constitution of India, the following Advocates have been appointed as Additional Judges of Allahabad High Court and Madras High Court. I extend my best wishes to all of them."

Recently the Supreme Court Collegium in its meeting held on 17th January 2023 had approved the proposal for the elevation of the nine Advocates as Judges in the Allahabad High Court.

Out of nine recommended names the Centre has notified the appointment of three Advocates Prashant Kumar, Manjive Shukla and Arun Kumar Singh Deshwal as the Additional Judges of Allahabad High Court.

The Supreme Court Collegium in its meeting held on January 17, 2023, had approved the proposal for the elevation of the Advocate Venkatachari Lakshminarayanan as the Judges for Madras High Court.

Recently, during the Parliament session, Law and Justice Minister Kiren Rijiju told Parliament that Government is committed to filling up of vacant posts expeditiously in a time-bound manner.

He also informed the Parliament that while filling up vacancies in the High Courts is a continuous, integrated and collaborative process requiring consultation and approval from various constitutional authorities, vacancies keep arising on account of retirement, resignation or elevation of Judges.

Rijiju further informed that to increase the judge strength of a High Court, the concurrence of the Chief Justice of the concerned High Court, as well as the State Government, is required since the Chief Justice of that High Court is responsible for the day-to-day administration of the court and the State Government has to provide for infrastructural facilities, salaries of Judges etc.

The sanctioned strength of Judges of the High Court has increased from 906 in (2014) to 1108 in (2022).