Jaipur, Jan 27 (IANS): Three newly appointed judges -- Chandrashekhar Sharma, Pramil Kumar Mathur, and Chandra Prakash Shrimali -- were sworn in at the Rajasthan High Court on Monday.
The oath-taking ceremony was held at the court's main bench in Jodhpur and was presided over by Chief Justice MM Shrivastava.
With their induction, the total number of judges in the Rajasthan High Court has risen to 33. All three judges belong to the 1992 batch of judicial officers.
The swearing-in ceremony was held at 10 am in the courtroom of the High Court's main bench. On the occasion, Chief Justice M.M. Srivastava administered the oath to the three newly appointed judges.
Senior High Court judges Pushpendra Singh Bhati, Dinesh Mehta, Vineet Kumar Mathur, Birendra Kumar, Manoj Kumar Garg, Munnuri Laxman, Farzand Ali, Rekha Borana, Kuldeep Mathur, Nupur Bhati and Yogendra Kumar Purohit were also present at the ceremony.
Last October, the Rajasthan High Court also welcomed three judges transferred from other high courts. These included Justice Avneesh Jhingan and Justice Arun Monga from Punjab and Haryana High Court and Justice Munnuri Laxman from Telangana High Court.
The Rajasthan High Court has an approved strength of 50 judges, but currently, only 33 judges are serving, leaving 17 positions vacant.
Furthermore, five judges are set to retire this year: Justice Pankaj Bhandari and Justice Madan Gopal Vyas in January, Justice Birendra Kumar in May, Justice Narendra Dhadha in September, and Justice Manoj Kumar Garg in November.
All the judges of the Jaipur Bench participated in the ceremony through video conferencing.
Bar Council officials, Advocate General of the state government, senior advocates, Rajasthan High Court Advocates Association President Ratnaram Tholia, Lawyers Association President Anand Purohit, advocates and judicial officers were also present during the oath-taking ceremony.
The collegium, comprising Justice B R Gavai and Justice Surya Kant, held its meeting on December 22 and recommended the names of the three new judges.
Following the recommendations of a collegium, the Union government on Thursday notified the appointment of three judges to the Rajasthan High Court.
Last week, due to the retirement of two judges of Rajasthan High Court, the disposal of cases in the court was affected. After the appointment of three new judges, it is expected that the disposal of pending cases in the court will speed up.