Prez appoints 3 judicial officers as judges of common High Court of JK, Ladakh UTs

Srinagar: The President of India on Friday appointed three judicial officers as judges of the common High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh Union territories.
According to a notification issued by Union Ministry of Law, the President has appointed Vinod Chatterji (chairman Sales Tax Tribunal), Sanjay Dhar( Registrar General High Court) and Puneet Gupta(member Special Tribunal Jammu) as judges of the common High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh Union Territories.
“ In exercise of the power conferred by clause(1) of Article 217 of the Constitution of India, the President is pleased to appoint(1) Vinod Chatterji Koul(ii) Sanjay Dhar and (iii) Puneet Gupta as judges of the common High Court of Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir and Union Territory of Ladakh, in that order of seniority, with effect from the date they assume charge of their respective offices,” reads the notification.
On July 18, 2019, the collegium of J&K High Court had recommended the names of these three senior Judicial officers to the Supreme Court of India for appointment as Judges of the High Court. The Supreme Court collegium headed by Chief Justice of India,S A Bobde, in a meeting on February 19, had cleared the proposal for appointment of these judicial officers as judges of the High Court. With these appointments, the strength of judges in the High Court has reached 12. The High Court has a sanctioned strength of 17 judges and will now be short of 5 judges