THE JHARKHAND STORY DESK
New Delhi, Nov 9: Three Chief Justices from different High Courts have been approved for appointment to the Supreme Court of India by the Ministry of Law and Justice.
The Supreme Court Collegium, on Monday, made recommendations for three new judges to be appointed to the apex court.
The Supreme Court Administrative Branch Circular states that on November 9 at 4:15 p.m., at the Supreme Court’s auditorium, the swearing-in ceremonies for Justice Satish Chandra Sharma, Chief Justice of the High Court of Delhi; Justice Augustine George Masih, Chief Justice of the High Court of Rajasthan; and Justice Sandeep Mehta, Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court, will take place as judges of the Supreme Court of India.
The Supreme Court Bar Association President and Senior Advocate Adish C. Aggarwala confirmed the news and expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for approving the Collegium of the Supreme Court’s recommendation to appoint three judges within 48 hours.
Chief Justices of the Delhi High Court, Rajasthan High Court, and Gauhati High Court, Sandeep Mehta, and Augustine George Masih, were recommended for promotion to the Center for Supreme Court judges.
The Collegium, which included Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai and Surya Kant, stated that the Supreme Court has a significant backlog of cases and that judges’ workloads have increased significantly as a result of the cases’ ongoing pendency.
The Supreme Court of India has an approved capacity for 34 judges and is currently operating with 31 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 Collegium’s recommendation stated.
It mentioned that the Collegium considered and talked about the names of Chief Justices and senior most judges of the High Courts who are eligible for elevation to the Supreme Court.
“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 and 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,” it added.
