The Centre on Thursday notified the appointment of nine lawyers, including Haryana advocate general Pravindra Chauhan, as additional judges of the Punjab and Haryana high court.
The eight others are Monica Chhibber Sharma, Harmeet Singh Deol, Rajesh Gaur, Puja Chopra, Sunish Bindlish, Minderjeet Yadav, Divya Sharma and Ravinder Malik. The Supreme Court collegium had cleared their names in May this year. They are likely to be administered the oath of office on Friday.
The high court currently has 55 judges against a sanctioned strength of 85. The Supreme Court has also recently recommended the appointment of acting chief justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra as chief justice. The appointments are likely to speed up disposal of cases, which stood at 4.22 lakh, according to the data maintained by the National Judicial Data Grid.
Haryana to get new AG
With Chauhan’s elevation as additional judge, the Haryana government will have to appoint a new top law officer. Chauhan was appointed AG in December 2024. He had replaced senior advocate BR Mahajan, who had held the post for almost a decade.