The Central government on Friday cleared the appointment of Senior Advocate Harpreet Singh Brar as additional judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
A notification to this effect was published on the website of Ministry of Law & Justice.
“In exercise of the power conferred by clause (1) of Article 224 of the Constitution of India, the President is pleased to appoint Shri Harpreet Singh Brar, to be an Additional Judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, for a period of two years with effect from the date he assumes charge of his office,” the notification stated.
The appointment was made after the Supreme Court Collegium reiterated Senior Advocate Brar’s name on March 22.
In its resolution uploaded on March 22, the Collegium had stated that the Department of Justice (DoJ) had returned its earlier recommendation of Brar after flagging certain issues.
The Collegium then had sought fresh inputs about Brar from the High Court Collegium.
The High Court Collegium reiterated the name on February 24, after the Chief Justice of India wrote to the High Court’s Chief Justice on February 16 regarding Brar’s candidature.
“By a communication dated February 24, 2023, the Chief Justice of the High Court stated that he had sought the comments of the candidate. The High Court Collegium held a meeting on February 23, 2023 to reconsider the recommendation for the appointment of Shri Harpreet Singh Brar, bearing in mind the observation of the Department of Justice. Upon careful evaluation of the matters which have been noted by the Department of Justice, the High Court Collegium which has been constituted afresh with a new member has arrived at the unanimous view that there was no reason to take a view different from the one taken earlier.”
The top court collegium also subsequently considered the minutes of the meeting of the High Court Collegium meeting along with the issues flagged by the DoJ.
It had noted that each of the issues had been dealt with elaborately by the High Court Collegium.
“At an earlier stage while recommending the name of Shri Brar, the Collegium of the Supreme Court took into consideration the opinion of its consultee-judges. The Collegium has now obtained the opinion of two more consultee-judges who have been appointed as Judges of the Supreme Court recently. In view of the opinion of the consultee-judges of this Court and the report submitted by the Chief Justice of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana along with Minutes of the Collegium and papers enclosed with it, and after examining all aspects of the matter, the Collegium is of the view that Shri Harpreet Singh Brar is fit and suitable for appointment as a Judge of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana,” the resolution further said.
The Collegium noted that the senior counsel has wide-ranging experience of practice.
Accordingly, it reiterated Brar’s name and stated that the proposal should be processed at the earliest.
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