 Early Times Report
Srinagar, Nov 10: Justice Rajesh Bindal, a judge of Punjab and Haryana High Court, was on Saturday transferred to Jammu and Kashmir High Court, taking the bench strength to slightly over 50% of the total capacity. A notification in this regard was issued by President in exercise of the powers conferred by clause (1) of Article 222 of constitution of India, read with Article 222 of the constitution (1A) of the constitution of Jammu and Kashmir. Justice Bindal has been asked to assume charge of his office in J&K High Court on or before November 24.
Justice Bindal was born on April 16, 1961, at Ambala City. He passed matriculation examination from S. A. Jain High School, Ambala City; thereafter studied in S.A. Jain College, Ambala City; got B. Com. Degree from Punjab University, Chandigarh; did LL. B. from Kurukshetra University in 1985 and joined profession in High Court in September, 1985.
He represented Chandigarh Administration before Central Administrative Tribunal for more than a decade till 2004; represented Punjab & Haryana regions of Employees Provident Fund Organization in High Court and Central Administrative Tribunal from 1992; remained associated, on behalf of State of Haryana, in the dispute concerning Satluj Yamuna Water with State of Punjab before Eradi Tribunal and Apex Court; represented Income Tax Department Haryana region before the High Court. He was elevated as a Judge of the Punjab & Haryana High Court, on March 22, 2006.
With his joining, the bench strength of the judges in J&K High Court, which was in 2014 increased to 17 including Chief Justice, will be 10. However, the strength would be reduced to nine again as on October 29 last Supreme Court's Collegium passed a resolution recommending transfer of Justice Alok Aradhe to Karnataka High Court.
On August 28, Justice Janak Raj Kotwal while on October 21 Justice M K Hanjura attained superannuation. Presently there are nine judges in the High Court-Chief Justice Gita Mittal, Justice Alok Aradhe, Justice Ali Mohammad Magrey, Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur, Justice Tashi Rabstan, Justice Sanjeev Kumar, Justice Sanjay Kumar Gupta, Justice Sidhu Sharma and Justice Rashid Ali Dar.
As per the National Judicial Data Grid, a total of 90545 cases--81349 civil and 9196 criminal cases are pending in both the wings of J&K High Court. Of the total 90545 cases, 44308 cases are pending in Jammu wing and 46237 in Srinagar wing.
Hoping that the strength of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court would be raised to 25 soon, the former Chief Justice, Justice Badar Durrez Ahmad, said that judges in the JK HC had to hear four times the number of cases their colleagues in the Delhi High Court handled. In his farewell speech after retiring on March 16, Justice Ahmad also expressed grave concern over what he termed as the state's "suboptimal criminal justice system," which, despite the judiciary's remarkably swift adoption of modern technology, was still bogged down by the lack of modern techniques and scientific procedures. |
