With Centre clearing names of 4 new judges, SC creates 2 additional court rooms

As Centre clears names of four judges, the Supreme Court of India has created two more court rooms, taking its strength to 34.

New Delhi: With the Centre clearing the names of four new judges recommended by the Supreme Court collegium, the top court on Thursday said that it has created two additional court rooms for hearing of cases.

The government on Wednesday cleared the names of Justices Krishna Murari, SR Bhat, V Ramasubramanian and Hrishikesh Roy, as new judges of the top court, taking its strength to 34 -- the highest ever.

"It is hereby circulated for the information of all concerned that as per the orders of Chief Justice of India, two additional court rooms have been created near the existing court number-10, which have been numbered as court number-16 and 17," a circular issued by the top court said.

The Supreme Court at present has 15 court rooms and its judges usually sit in the combination of two. Court number 1, which is presided over by the Chief Justice of India, usually sits in the combination of three-judges.

The Supreme Court Collegium headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, had on August 30, recommended the names of four high court chief justices for elevation as apex court judges.

Justices V Ramasubramanian and Krishna Murari head the Himachal Pradesh and Punjab and Haryana high courts respectively.

Justices S Ravindra Bhat and Hrishikesh Roy head the Rajasthan and Kerala high courts respectively.

With a huge backlog of cases in the top court, the government had recently increased the strength of its judges from 31 to 34, including the Chief Justice of India.

As of today, the apex court has 30 judges. Once the new judges take oath, the strength will go up to 34, the highest ever.

The sanctioned strength of SC judges was increased days after Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to increase the number of judges in the top court.