5 New SC Judges Take Oath: Number Of Judges Increased To 32

Five HC Judges – Justices Pankaj Mithal, Sanjay Karol, P V Sanjay Kumar, Ahsanuddin Amanullah, and Manoj Mishra – administered oath as Supreme Court Judges by CJI D Y Chandrachud. The Supreme court Judge’s strength increases to 32 against a sanctioned strength of 34.

On Saturday, the Central Government announced the appointment of 5 judges to the Supreme Court, after accepting the recommendations of the Collegium.

The Supreme Court of India currently has a sanctioned strength of thirty-four judges and operates with twenty-seven.

With the addition of these five judges, the Supreme Court’s working strength has increased to 32.
The recommendations made by the Supreme Court collegium in December 2022 to elevate five High Court judges to the Supreme Court were approved a day after Attorney General for India R. Venkataramani notified the Supreme Court that the Central Government would do so very soon.
The 5 judges whose appointments have been notified are; Justice Pankaj Mithal (Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court), Justice Sanjay Karol (Chief Justice of Patna High Court), Justice P. V. Sanjay Kumar (Chief Justice of Manipur High Court), Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah (Judge, Patna High Court) and Justice Manoj Misra (Judge, Allahabad High Court).

There are now only two vacancies at the apex court, which could be filled in the coming days if the president accepts the Supreme Court Collegium’s January 31 proposal to elevate Allahabad High Court Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and Gujarat High Court Chief Justice Aravind Kumar as SC judges.