NEW DELHI: President Ram Nath Kovind, on Wednesday, appointed four new judges to the Supreme Court, after the collegium had recommended the names last month. With these appointments, the apex court will attain the full strength of 34 judges.
According to Law Ministry notifications, those appointed are, Justice Hrishikesh Roy, Justice Ravinder Bhat, Justice V Ramasubramanian and Justice Krishna Murari.
The collegium headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi had recommended the four names for elevation.
As of today, the SC has 30 judges. Once the new judges take oath on Monday, the strength will go up to 34 - the highest ever.
Justice Roy is presently the Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court, whereas Justice Ramasubramanian is the Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court. Justice Bhat is the Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court, and Justice Murari is the Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
A few Supreme Court judges have questioned this recommendation elevating some of the candidates who rank lower in the all-India seniority list.
Last month, the sanctioned strength of judges in the Supreme Court was increased from 30 to 33 besides the Chief Justice of India.
The decision was taken days after CJI Gogoi wrote to PM Narendra Modi to increase the number of judges in the top court. Due to the paucity of judges, required number of Constitution benches to decide important cases involving questions of law was not being formed, the CJI said.
As on date, the Supreme Court has a pendency of over 60,000 cases.