It always feels empowering to read and know that women are assuming positions of power. There is a sense of pride that I am sure all women must be feeling when news of a woman being appointed a senior post is reported. Judiciary is one such field where I feel we need more women as judges and lawyers. And in what comes as a surprise and a good piece of news, the Punjab and Haryana High Court will now have 13 women judges. This news comes after the Center confirmed the appointment of nine judicial officers from both Punjab and Haryana.
As per reports, the names of the judicial officers whose names have been confirmed for the appointment are Gurbir Singh, Amarjot Bhatti, Deepak Gupta, Ritu Tagore, Harpreet Kaur Jeewan, Manisha Batra, Sukhvinder Kaur, Sanjiv Berry and Vikram Aggarwal. Of these five officers are from Punjab and the others are from Haryana. In the past, the number of female judges in the Punjab and Haryana High Court stood at 10.
The number of female judges right now in the court stands at eight. They are Justice Lisa Gill, Justice Justice Ritu Bahri, Justice Manjari Nehru Kaul, Jaishree Thakur, Justice Alka Sarin, Justice Archana Puri, Justice Meenakshi L. Mehta, and Justice Nidhi Gupta. The last time when judicial officers were promoted to judges was on November 28, 2019.
This new elevation will cause a rise in the number of judges overall as well, taking the number to 65. The current strength of the judges stands at 56 while the capacity stands at 85. Reportedly, 10 judges are set to retire from their tenure next year and the elevation of the judicial officers comes at a very important time.
Also read: Report Shows 18% Rise In Women’s Representation In Indian Boardrooms. But Only Because Laws Demand It. Sigh!
We are quite happy that the number of female judicial officers has seen a rise. Better female representation in the judiciary was long overdue.
