More than three months after the Supreme Court Collegium cleared the names of 10 advocates for elevation, the Centre on Thursday formally notified the appointment of nine additional judges to the Punjab and Haryana High Court, including Haryana Advocate-General Pravindra Singh Chauhan.
The newly appointed judges — Monica Chhibber Sharma, Harmeet Singh Deol, Pravindra Singh Chauhan, Rajesh Gaur, Puja Chopra, Sunish Bindlish, Minderjeet Yadav, Divya Sharma and Ravinder Malik — will take oath before Acting Chief Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra on Friday. Justice Mishra himself has already been cleared by the Collegium for elevation as the regular Chief Justice, with the Centre’s notification expected shortly.
Chauhan’s move to the Bench has triggered a fresh race for the post of Haryana’s Advocate-General, as the state government must now appoint a new top law officer to represent it before the Supreme Court and the High Court.
The appointments, made by the President after consultation with Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, come at a critical juncture. The High Court is currently functioning with only 55 judges against a sanctioned strength of 85. According to the National Judicial Data Grid, over 4.22 lakh cases are pending adjudication — 2,55,274 civil and 1,67,587 criminal matters — many involving urgent questions of liberty, bail, and incarceration.