NEW DELHI: The Central government on Thursday notified the elevation of four advocates as additional judges of Allahabad and Madras High Court. Prashant Kumar, Manjive Shukla and Arun Kumar Singh Deshwal were appointed as additional judges of Allahabad HC, while Venkatachari Lakshminarayanan additional judge of Madras HC.
Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju while taking to Twitter said, “As per relevant provisions under the Constitution of India, the following Advocates have been appointed as Additional Judges of Allahabad High Court and Madras High Court. I extend my best wishes to all of them.”
Venkatachari’s name was recommended by the Supreme Court collegium in its meeting dated January 17, 2023 along with the elevation of advocates Victoria Gowri, Pillaipakkam Bahukutumbi Balaji, Ramaswamy Neelakandan and Kandhasami Kulandaivelu Ramakrishnan.
The government had cleared Gowri’s name on February 6, 2023, but kept back Venkatachari’s name, which was cleared on Thursday. Names of Prashant Kumar, Manjive Shukla and Arun Kumar Singh Deshwal were recommended by the SC collegium also on January 17, 2023, along with other six names.
The Madras High Court has been working at a strength of 57 judges against a sanctioned strength of 75. With the addition of Justice Lakshminarayanan, the number of Madras HC judges will rise to 58. Rijiju recently said that the government was committed to filling up vacancies expeditiously. He also said that while the process was continuous, integrated and collaborative, it, however, required consultation and approval from various constitutional authorities.