The Supreme Court Collegium headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant has approved the elevation of 10 advocates as judges of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.The decisions, taken in the Collegium’s meeting on May 4, come against the backdrop of a glaring gap between the High Court’s sanctioned strength of 85 judges and its current working strength of 58—an institutional shortfall that has long strained judicial functioning in Punjab, Haryana, and Chandigarh.The Collegium cleared the names of Monica Chhibber Sharma, Harmeet Singh Deol, Puja Chopra, Jattvibeish Bindlish, Navdeep Singh, Divya Sharma and Ravinder Malik for elevation. In a separate but concurrent resolution, it also approved the elevation of Pravindra Singh Chauhan, Rajesh Gaur and Minderjeet Yadav.Chauhan is currently serving as the Advocate-General for Haryana, adding weight to the list of appointees drawn from experienced members of the Bar.The move assumes significance in view of the persistent backlog of cases before the High Court, where pendency has crossed the four-lakh mark, raising concerns over the capacity of the existing bench to cope with the inflow of fresh matters. The shortage of judges has repeatedly been flagged as one of the key contributors to the crisis.The Collegium’s recommendations are part of a continuing exercise to fill vacancies and strengthen the Bench, with the aim of improving disposal rates and reducing the burden on the judicial system. The appointments, once cleared by the President, are expected to partially bridge the gap in judicial strength and provide some relief to an overburdened court system.