New Delhi, May 14 (Inditop) For the first time in the history of the Indian judiciary, a husband and wife will take oath as judges of the Delhi High Court Thursday.
Indermeet Kaur Kochhar and her husband A.K. Pathak were issued their letters of appointment by President Pratibha Patil earlier this week.
Kochhar was the district and sessions judge of Delhi, while Pathak was the district judge of Karkardooma court.
Kochhar is an expert of company law and had joined Delhi Higher Judicial Service March 7 1995, while Pathak joined the service two days later.
Both had earlier practiced as Delhi High Court lawyers. They got married after joining the judicial service.
Besides them, two more judges will also be sworn in as Delhi High Court judges – Ajit Bharihoke, who is presently registrar general of the Delhi High Court, and V.K. Jain, secretary general of the Supreme Court.
With the appointment of these four judges, the total number of judges in the Delhi High Court will rise to 44, four short of the sanctioned limit.
The increase in the number of judges should help in clearing the enormous backlog of cases. According to the annual report of the Delhi High Court, it could take as many as 466 years to clear the backlog.
