Collegium recommends 3 HC chief justices as SC judges

The Supreme Court collegium headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud on Monday recommended the names of three high court chief justices as Supreme Court judges.

The collegium, also comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, B R Gavai and Surya Kant, recommended the names of Delhi high court Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma, Rajasthan high court Chief Justice Augustine George Masih and Gauhati high court Chief Justice Sandeep Mehta as top court judges.

If cleared by the Centre, the top court will have the full strength of 34 judges.

The collegium in its resolution stated that the Supreme Court has a sanctioned strength of 34 judges and is currently functioning 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 of time. Bearing in mind the above, the Collegium has decided to fill up all three existing vacancies by recommending names.

"The collegium deliberated on and discussed the names of chief justices and senior puisne judges of the high courts eligible for appointment to the Supreme Court. Judgments 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 collegium stated.

The collegium said the Centre for Research and Planning of the Supreme Court has prepared a compilation of relevant background material to assist it.