CHANDIGARH, August 20: The Central Government on Thursday officially notified the appointment of nine advocates as Additional Judges to the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The newly appointed judges are scheduled to be administered their oath of office on Friday by Acting Chief Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra.
This major judicial expansion is expected to bring crucial relief to a high court severely restricted by a deep vacancy deficit and a staggering backlog of over 4.22 lakh pending cases.
Addressing the Vacancy Gap
Prior to this notification, the common High Court for Punjab, Haryana, and Chandigarh was operating with only 55 judges against a total sanctioned strength of 85. This deficit meant that nearly 35% of the court’s bench sat vacant while facing an overwhelming volume of litigations.
With these nine fresh appointments, the working strength of the High Court will climb to 64. The advocates elevated to the bench for a two-year tenure include:
- Monica Chhibber Sharma
- Harmeet Singh Deol (Additional Advocate General of Punjab)
- Pravindra Singh Chauhan (Current Advocate General of Haryana)
- Rajesh Gaur
- Puja Chopra
- Sunish Bindlish
- Minderjeet Yadav
- Divya Sharma
- Ravinder Malik
Collegium Recommendations & Omissions
The notifications, issued under the authority of the President of India and announced by Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, stem from a list of ten names recommended by the Supreme Court Collegium on May 4.
Reports by Bar and Bench indicate that while the Centre cleared nine of those recommendations, it did not notify the appointment of military law expert Senior Advocate Navdeep Singh, whose name was also part of the initial Collegium list.
The elevation of Haryana’s Advocate General, Pravindra Singh Chauhan, follows a recent victory in court. A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) that attempted to challenge and stall his recommendation was dismissed with a ₹1 lakh cost penalty by a division bench, clearing his path to take the judicial oath.
