SC back to full strength as three new judges take oath
PTC News Desk: Supreme Court is back to full strength as three new judges took oath on Thursday. Justices Satish Chandra Sharma, Augustine George Masih and Sandeep Mehta took oath as judges of the apex court on Thursday.
The oath of office was administered to them by the Chief Justice of India, DY Chandrachud.
The Supreme Court Collegium recommended the names of new Supreme Court judges for appointment on Monday.
The recommendation was reportedly approved by the centre on Wednesday.
The Centre had recommended Delhi High Court Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma, Rajasthan High Court Chief Justice Augustine George Masih, and Gauhati High Court Chief Justice Sandeep Mehta for elevation.
The Collegium, which includes Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, and Surya Kant, stated in their recommendation that the Supreme Court has a huge backlog of cases and that the workload of judges has increased significantly due to the ever-increasing pendency of cases.
The Supreme Court of India had a sanctioned strength of 34 judges but was only operating with 31. After three new judges were sworn in today, the Supreme Court will have a full panel of 34 judges.
"The Supreme Court has a huge backlog of cases. In view of the ever-mounting pendency of cases, the workload of judges has increased considerably. Bearing in mind the above, it has become necessary to ensure that the Court has full working judge-strength leaving no vacancy at any point in time. Bearing in mind the above, the Collegium has decided to fill up all the three existing vacancies by recommending names," the recommendation stated.
"Judgements authored by those falling in the zone of consideration for elevation to the Supreme Court were circulated among the members of the Collegium well in advance for a meaningful discussion on an assessment of their judicial acumen. The Centre for Research and Planning of the Supreme Court has prepared a compilation of relevant background material to assist the Collegium."
- ANI
