Five additional judges of 3 HCs granted extension

New Delhi: Five additional judges of three high courts have been granted a three-month extension.

The Law Ministry said today that Asapu Ramalingeswara Rao of the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana High Court and Dama Seshadri Naidu of the Kerala High Court have been granted extension for a period of three months with effect from September 21, 2015.

The ministry had yesterday said that Goutam Bhaduri, Sanjay Kumar Agrawal and Puthichira Sam Koshy of the Chhattisgarh High Court have been given extension for three months with effect from today.

To overcome shortage of judges, government had recently sought permission of the Supreme Court to give extension to additional judges in various high courts whose tenure of two years was coming to an end.

While the collegium system -- where judges recommended names of judges for appointment and elevation -- has been done away with by the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act, the new body is yet to take shape.

The new law which scrapped the collegium system came into force on April 13 this year. The Supreme Court has reserved its judgement on a clutch of petitions challenging the validity of NJAC.

Till a new system is in place, the additional judges cannot be elevated as permanent judges in high courts.