Four new Supreme Court judges appointed, strength now 34

September 19, 2019

The Centre on 18 September 2019 cleared the appointments of four new judges to the Supreme Court. With the appointment, the judges’ strength in apedx court is now 34. On August 30, the Supreme Court four chief justices for the appointment to the top court in order to fill the vacant posts.

Key Highlights

The newly appointed SC judges are-

Haryana High Court Chief Justice Krishna Murari
Himachal Pradesh High Court Chief Justice V. Ramasubramanian
Rajasthan High Court Chief Justice S Ravindra Bhat
Kerala High Court Chief Justice Hrishikesh Roy

Once the newly appointed 4 SC Judges takes oath, the total strength of Supreme Court (34) will be highest ever till date.

The Supreme Court vacancies had increased its judicial strength from 31 to 34 (including Chief Justice of India) following the enactment of Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Bill of 2019 into law. One of said four judges would replace the vacancy following retirement of SC Justice A.M. Sapre.

Background

Originally, the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, 1956 provided for a maximum number of 10 judges (excluding CJI). This strength was increased to 13 by Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Act, 1960, and to 17 in 1977. However, till the end of 1979, the working strength of Supreme Court was, restricted to 15 judges by cabinet (excluding CJI). But the restriction was withdrawn at request of chief justice of India.

In 1986, the strength of top court was increased to 25 (excluding CJI). Later, the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Act, 2009 further augmented the strength of SC from 25 to 30.