Five new judges were on Monday appointed to the Supreme Court, taking the working strength of the apex court to 37, one short of its recently enhanced sanctioned strength of 38.
According to separate notifications issued by the Department of Justice in the Union law ministry on Monday morning, the judges appointed to the top court are:
- Senior Supreme Court advocate Venkita Subramani Mohana
- Bombay High Court Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar
- Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice Sheel Nagu
- Madhya Pradesh High Court Chief Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva.
- Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court Chief Justice Arun Palli.
Attaching a list of newly appointed judges, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Bikaner MP, in a post on X said, "In exercise of the power conferred by clause (2) of Article 124 of the Constitution of India, the President of India, after consultation with Chief Justice of India, is pleased to appoint the following as Judges of the Supreme Court of India. I convey my best wishes to them." [sic]
The Supreme Court will formally have 37 judges once the five appointees take oath and assume charge.
The appointments come after the government last month promulgated an ordinance amending the relevant law to increase the sanctioned strength of the Supreme Court from 34 to 38 judges, including the Chief Justice of India.
The apex court already had two vacancies before the increase in sanctioned strength. Following the enhancement, the total number of vacancies rose to six. With Monday's appointments, only one post remains vacant.
The five names were recommended by the Supreme Court Collegium on May 27, with the appointments being cleared within four days.
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