The Supreme Court of India will regain its full strength of 34 judges, including the Chief Justice of India, as two newly appointed Supreme Court judges, Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice Aravind Kumar, take oath of office on Monday. The oath will be administered by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud. The last time the Supreme Court functioned at its full sanctioned strength was on May 9th last year when Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Justice JB Pardiwala took oath.
Justice Bindal was the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court before being elevated as a Supreme Court judge, while Justice Kumar was the Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court. The Centre notified their appointment on February 10th, 10 days after the Supreme Court Collegium led by CJI Chandrachud recommended their elevation as judges of the top court.
The Supreme Court Collegium’s resolution for the elevation of Justice Bindal was unanimous, while Justice Joseph expressed his reservations to the elevation of Justice Kumar, stating that his name could be considered at a later stage. Justice Bindal stood at serial number 2 in the combined All-India seniority of high court judges, while Justice Kumar was at number 26.
Justice Bindal was appointed a judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court on March 22nd, 2006 and went on to become the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court on October 11th, 2021. He is the senior-most judge from the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
Justice Kumar was appointed an additional judge of the Karnataka High Court on June 26th, 2009 and as a permanent judge on December 7th, 2012. He was elevated as Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court on October 13th, 2021. Justice Kumar is the second senior-most judge from the Karnataka High Court.
Interestingly, the Supreme Court is also scheduled to hear on Monday petitions alleging inordinate delay on the part of the Centre in clearing the names recommended by the Collegium for appointment as judges to the top court and various high courts. On February 3rd, a Bench led by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul had also expressed strong displeasure over the delay in clearing recommendations for the transfer of high court judges, terming it a “very serious issue”.
Attorney General R Venkataramani has assured the Bench that the Collegium’s December 13th recommendation for the elevation of five judges to the apex court will be cleared soon. The appointments have since been notified and the five judges have already taken oath.
(Inputs from Tribune)
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