Collegium Moves 10 Names to Ease Punjab-Haryana Backlog
Ten advocates are cleared for elevation, but the bottleneck is still the Centre: the High Court gets relief only after notification.
The Supreme Court collegium has approved 10 advocates for judgeship in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, including Haryana Advocate-General Pravindra Singh Chauhan and Punjab Additional Advocate-General Harmeet Singh Deol. The decision, taken in a May 4 meeting chaired by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, is a staffing move as much as a judicial one: it tries to reinforce a court that has been running below strength for months. The appointments still need the Union government’s notification before they take effect. 
The Hindu
Why this matters
Punjab and Haryana is one of the high courts where vacancy pressure directly translates into slower disposal. By April 2025, the court had 32 vacancies against a sanctioned strength of 85, part of a broader national shortage in which India’s high courts were operating with 345 vacancies out of 1,114 sanctioned posts. By July 2025, the national figure had worsened to 371 vacancies out of 1,122, with more than 63 lakh cases pending across the high courts. That is the real context for this round of appointments: the system is trying to add capacity faster than it can clear cases. Chronic judicial vacancies, backlog of cases plague various High Courts - The Hindu Supreme Court collegium recommends 39 names for High Court appointments - The Hindu
For 
India, this is less about headline reform than about whether the appointments pipeline can keep pace with the caseload. Elevating practising advocates and serving law officers also helps the collegium fill benches with candidates who already know the region’s litigation ecosystem. That matters in a court that handles heavy criminal, service and commercial dockets for both Punjab and Haryana. The Hindu
What to watch next
The decisive step is now in the Law Ministry’s hands. The Centre has been criticised for taking nine to ten months, on average, to clear some high court recommendations, and delays have been a recurring point of friction between the executive and the judiciary. If these 10 names are notified quickly, the Punjab and Haryana High Court gets real breathing room; if not, the court stays trapped in the same vacancy cycle. Supreme Court collegium recommends 39 names for High Court appointments - The Hindu CJI releases Collegium data on High Court judge appointments - The Hindu
The next date that matters is not the collegium meeting; it is the Union government’s notification. That will show whether this is a genuine capacity boost or just another recommendation sitting in the queue.
