Nine advocates appointed as Additional Judges to Punjab and Haryana HC

CHANDIGARH: The Union Administration has notified the appointment of nine advocates as Further Judges of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, including Haryana Advocate General Pravindra Singh Chauhan.

Key points

• The oath will be administered to the newly appointed judges by Acting Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra.
• The High Court has a sanctioned strength of 85 judges, comprising 64 permanent judges and 21 Extra Judges.
• These appointments were confirmed by Union Minister of State for Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal on Thursday.
• The appointment comes pursuant to a recommendation created by the Supreme Court Collegium on May 4 for the appointment of 10 advocates.
• Chauhan, whose name has been cleared for judgeship, is presently the Advocate General of Haryana.

These appointments were confirmed by Union Minister of State for Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal on Thursday. He wrote on X and shared the list, "In exercise of the power conferred by the Constitution of India, after consultation with Chief Justice of India, the President is pleased to appoint the following Advocates as Additional Judges in the Punjab and Haryana High Court."

Notably, the lawyers who have been elevated to the Bench of the High Court are Monica Chhibber Sharma, Harmeet Singh Deol, Pravindra Singh Chauhan, Rajesh Gaur, Puja Chopra, Sunish Bindlish, Minderjeet Yadav, Divya Sharma and Ravinder Malik.

Meanwhile, the appointment comes pursuant to a recommendation created by the Supreme Court Collegium on May 4 for the appointment of 10 advocates.

Meanwhile, Chauhan, whose name has been cleared for judgeship, is presently the Advocate General of Haryana. The Punjab and Haryana High Court lately dismissed a plea challenging the Collegium's recommendation to appoint him as a judge.

These appointments assume significance against the backdrop of the considerable gap between the sanctioned and working strength of the High Court.

For context, the High Court has a sanctioned strength of 85 judges, comprising 64 permanent judges and 21 Extra Judges. At present, the court is operating with 55 judges, 30 positions short of its sanctioned strength, and has 4, 23, 312 cases pending before it.

For context, the fresh appointments will take the strength of the High Court to 64. The appointments are projected to provide much needed relief to the court. It is grappling with vacancies and a heavy pendency of cases throughout Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh.

Meanwhile, the oath will be administered to the newly appointed judges by Acting Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra. The administration cleared the appointment of nine of the 10 names recommended by the Collegium.

Taken together, the developments around nine advocates appointed as Additional Judges to Punjab and Haryana HC point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.