In April this year, the J&K High Court collegium had recommended 11 names for elevation as judges. (File)

The Supreme Court collegium has approved the names of nine advocates, including a woman, for appointment as judges of the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

This comes six months after the collegium of J&K High Court recommended 10 advocates and a judicial officer to the top court .

Among the advocates approved by the Supreme Court collegium, in its meeting on Thursday, is Tabasum Zafar. If cleared, she would be the first Kashmiri woman advocate to be appointed as a high court judge.

Of the 11 names recommended by the HC, the Supreme Court collegium has dropped two — advocate Jahangir Iqbal Ganai and judicial officer Yash Paul Bourney.

Ganai is a senior lawyer, who was J&K’s Advocate General from June 2016 to July 2018 during the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-BJP coalition government. He was the youngest lawyer from Jammu and Kashmir to be elevated to that position.…