NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court collegium on Tuesday recommended the names of six judicial officers for elevation as judges in the Delhi High Court. In a meeting, the Supreme Court collegium headed by CJI N V Ramana recommended to the Centre the names of Poonam Bamba, Neena Bansal Krishna, Swarna Kanta Sharma, Sudhir Kumar Jain, Dinesh Kumar Sharma and Anoop Kumar Mendiratta. In July 2021, the Delhi High Court collegium had sent eight names. It has selected six.
Poonam Bamba
Born and brought up in Delhi, Poonam Bamba was Principal Judge, Family Courts, at Saket District Court and retired last year in August. She has expertise on marriage-related laws and has authored several books. She has brought out the popular book, ‘Temple of Justice: A School of Life’. Her name was forwarded for elevation prior to her retirement. Bamba had convicted three of the four persons in the 2011 terror funding case. She also heard the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case in 2018 and 2019.
Neena Bansal Krishna
Currently being the Principal District and Sessions Judge at Saket District Court, Neena Bansal Krishna’s name was proposed last year by the Delhi High Court but the SC had returned her name for reconsideration after the government cited seniority norms. In 2015, Krishna had exonerated cricketer S Sreesanth and 35 other accused in the IPL betting and spot-fixing case.
Swarna Kanta Sharma
Swarna Kanta Sharma is the Principal and Sessions Judge at Rohini District Court. She has authored several books including ‘Divorce: Don’t Break After Break’ and ‘A Handy Guide For Women’. Sharma headed a committee last year and had directed the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), northwest Delhi and Haryana police to provide security to the witnesses in a murder case against wrestler Sushil Kumar.
Sudhir Kumar Jain
Sudhir Kumar Jain is currently posted as the Principal District Sessions Judge cum Special Judge at Rouse Avenue Court. He is a trained mediator for fifteen years and has conducted mediation in about twelve thousand cases. He has worked as the in charge of Delhi Mediation Centre for over six years. Jain did his LLB, LLM and PhD from Delhi University. He joined Judicial Service in 1992 and was promoted to Higher Judicial Service in 2003.
Anoop Kumar Mendiratta
Anoop Kumar Mendiratta was in the news when he was appointed as the Union Law Secretary in the Union Law Ministry in October 2019. It was the first time that a serving district judge was appointed law secretary. According to reports published in 2019, 60 people including government officers, district judges, advocates and legal experts had applied for the post which was awarded to Mendiratta. Before joining as Law Secretary, he served as district and sessions judge, North-East District, Karkardooma Courts. Mendiratta has presided over the Motor Accidents Claim Tribunal (MACT)
Dinesh Kumar Sharma
Dinesh Kumar Sharma is the Principal District and Sessions Judge of Patiala House Court. He was the Registrar General of the Delhi HC and had a long tenure of over six years from May 2015 to January 2020. Sharma currently heads New Delhi District Legal Services Authority.