Supreme Court gets full strength of Judges

May 23, 2019

Supreme Court has reached its full sanctioned strength of 31 with appointment of 4 new judges to the apex court. The total sanctioned strength of Supreme Court is 31 (30 + 1), which includes 30 Supreme Court Judges and 1 Chief Justice of India (CJI). The length of their term is from their joining till they retire at the age of 65.

Key Highlights

The Centre has cleared the four names recommended by five-member Supreme Court Collegium headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, for elevation as judges of the apex court.
The law ministry issued notification regarding appointment after President of India Ram Nath Kovind signed their warrants of appointment.
Delay: The government initially returned the names of Justices Bose and Bopanna to the SC collegium after citing seniority and representation of regions as the reasons. But, SC collegium passed a resolution in early May which reiterated its recommendation to elevate Justices Bose and Bopanna to apex court and also recommended the names of justices B R Gavai and Justice Kant. The collegium observed that nothing wrong has been found regarding their conduct, competence or integrity.
Importance: As of now, Supreme Court was functioning with 27 judges including the Chief Justice of India. After the elevation of four new judges, the apex court reached its full sanctioned strength of 31 judges. In recent past this is the first time that SC will have its full sanctioned strength.
The four newly appointed judges are-

Justice Aniruddha Bose– His parent High Court is Calcutta HC. He is Chief Justice of Jharkhand HC and stands at number 12 in all-India seniority of judges.
Justice Surya Kant– is incumbent Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh HC.
Justice A S Bopanna– His parent high court is Karnataka HC. He is Chief Justice of Gauhati HC and stands at number 36 in all-India seniority of judges.
Justice B R Gavai – is a judge of the Bombay High Court. Once sworn in, he could become the Chief Justice of India in May, 2025 and will be second Dalit CJI after K G Balakrishnan who retired on May 11, 2010.