Delhi High Court to get four more judges

Four more judges, including two women, would join the Delhi High Court, with the government today approving the elevation of four senior lawyers.

The names of Prathiba M Singh, Rekha Palli, Navin Chawla and C Hari Shankar, were approved as judges, who would now add to the strength of the Delhi High Court which has been working with a little over half of its sanctioned number of judges.

Currently, the high court has 34 judges as against a sanctioned strength of 60. The fresh appointments would increase the strength to 38.

"In exercise of the powers conferred by clause (1) of article 217 of the Constitution of India, the President is pleased to appoint Rekha Palli, Prathiba M Singh, Navin Chawla and C Hari Shankar, to be judges of the Delhi High Court, in that order of seniority, with effect from the date they assume charge of their respective offices," a notification issued today by the Ministry of Law and Justice said.
 

While Pratibha Singh is a leading intellectual property rights lawyer, Chawla's focus was on telecom and broadcasting laws and Shankar is a leading indirect tax and service lawyer.

Palli, who was designated as a senior advocate in 2015, had argued for the grant of permanent commission to all women officers who were recruited before May 2006 in the Air Force and Army. The high court in 2010 had held that not granting them permanent commission amounted to gender discrimination.