More than three months after the Supreme Court Collegium cleared the name of 10 advocates for elevation as additional judges of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the Centre on Thursday notified the appointment of nine, including Haryana Advocate-General Pravindra Singh Chauhan.They will be administered the oath by the Acting Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra, in the High Court on Friday.The nine advocates appointed as additional judges are Monica Chhibber Sharma, Harmeet Singh Deol, Pravindra Singh Chauhan, Rajesh Gaur, Puja Chopra, Jattvibeish Bindlish, Minderjeet Yadav, Divya Sharma and Ravinder Malik.Justice Mishra’s name has already been cleared by the Supreme Court Collegium for appointment as the regular Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court and the notification by the Centre is expected soon.Chauhan’s appointment as an additional judge has also heated up the race for the next Advocate-General of Haryana. With Chauhan moving to the Bench, the state government will now have to choose a new “top” law officer to head its legal team and represent it before the Supreme Court and the High Court.The appointments of the additional judges have been made by the President, in exercise of the powers conferred by the Constitution, after consultation with the Chief Justice of India, Justice Surya Kant.The move comes at a time when the common High Court for Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh is functioning with only 55 judges against a sanctioned strength of 85. The need to strengthen the Bench assumes greater urgency in view of the mounting pendency of cases before the High Court. Official figures released by the National Judicial Data Grid indicate that over 4.22 lakh cases are pending adjudication. Of these, 2,55,274 are civil matters and 1,67,587 are criminal cases, many involving questions of personal liberty, bail, incarceration and other issues requiring expeditious judicial consideration.The Punjab and Haryana High Court, which exercises jurisdiction over Punjab, Haryana and the Union Territory of Chandigarh, is among the largest constitutional courts in the country. The appointments are, therefore, being viewed as an important step towards addressing the manpower deficit and reducing the burden of pendency, though a sizeable gap between the sanctioned and working strength is likely to persist for the foreseeable future.