Srinagar: Justice Bawa Singh Walia has been transferred to Punjab and Haryana High Court, reducing the bench strength of the J&K High Court to 11 against 17 judges including the Chief Justice.
According to a notification issued by Indian Law Ministry, the President, after consultation with the Governor of Jammu & Kashmir and the Chief Justice of India, has ordered transfer of Justice Bawa Singh Walia as a Judge of his parent Punjab and Haryana High Court.
In January this year, three judges—Justices Sanjeev Kumar, Maharaj Krishan Hanjura and Sanjay Kumar Gupta—took oath as judges of the high court, taking the bench strength 12 including the Chief Justice. However with the transfer of Justice B S Walia, the strength is now reduced to eleven judges.
Recently, a High Court Collegium has recommended four lawyers, two each from Kashmir and Jammu, besides a judicial officer for appointment as judges of the highest court in the state.
The collegium, a panel of senior judges headed by Chief Justice of the high court, recommended advocates Nazir Ahmad Beigh, Showkat Ahmad Makroo (Kashmir) and Wasim Nargal and Sindhu Sharma (Jammu) besides Rashid Ali Dar, incumbent Principal District and Session Judge Srinagar, for appointment as the judges.
N A Beigh has been recommended for the second time as the high court collegium headed by the then Chief Justice, M M Kumar, in 2014 forwarded his name to serve the highest judiciary in the state. However, he couldn’t make it to the final selection list.
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