New Delhi: The Chief Justice of India, DY Chandrachud, on Thursday administered oath to justices Satish Chandra Sharma, Augustine George Masih and Sandeep Mehta as judges of the Supreme Court. With their appointment, the Supreme Court will have a full working strength of 34 judges. The swearing-in ceremony was attended by judges of the apex court, senior advocates, members of the Bar, family members of newly appointed judges and others. The Centre issued a notification regarding their appointment on Thursday.
On Monday, the Supreme Court collegium headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud recommended the appointment of three High Court chief justices as judges to the apex court. After that he stated that given the ever-mounting pendency of cases, the workload of judges has increased considerably and it has become necessary to ensure that the court has full working judge-strength.
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The collegium, led by CJI and comprising justices SK Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai and Suya Kant had said the apex court has a sanctioned strength of 34 judges and is presently functioning with 31 judges and it has a huge backlog of cases. The collegium stressed that given the ever-mounting pendency of cases, the workload of judges has increased considerably and bearing that in mind, it has become necessary to ensure that the court has full working judge-strength leaving no vacancy at any point in time.
After carefully evaluating the merit, integrity and competence of eligible chief justices and senior puisne judges of the High Courts and also accommodating a plurality of considerations, the collegium recommended: Justice Satish Chandra Sharma, Chief Justice, High Court of Delhi (parent High Court: Madhya Pradesh); Justice Augustine George Masih, Chief Justice, Rajasthan High Court (Parent High Court: Punjab and Haryana) and Justice Sandeep Mehta, Chief Justice, Gauhati High Court, (Parent High Court: Rajasthan).
