2 new judges to take oath on Monday, SC to reach full strength

The swearing-in of Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice Aravind Kumar as Supreme Court judges will take place on February 13.

According to a circular issued by the administration branch of the Supreme Court, the Chief Justice of India will administer the oath to Justices Bindal and Kumar at 10.30 am on Monday.

Earlier in the day, the government elevated Allahabad high court Chief Justice Bindal and Gujarat high court Chief Justice Kumar to the Supreme Court.

Law Minister Kiren Rijiju took to Twitter to announce the fresh appointments to the top court and extended his best wishes to them.

Once they take the oath, the top court will achieve its full strength of 34 judges, including the Chief Justice of India, after a gap of nine months.

Their names were recommended by the Supreme Court Collegium on January 31.

The department of justice in the Union law ministry issued separate notifications announcing their appointments.

All six members of the Collegium, led by CJI D Y Chandrachud, were unanimous in recommending the name of Justice Bindal, while Justice K M Joseph had a reservation about the name of Justice Kumar, according to a resolution uploaded on the apex court website.

After the elevation of these judges, Justices Pritinker Diwaker and Sonia Giridhar Gokani were appointed as acting chief justices of Allahabad and Gujarat high courts respectively.

Both are senior-most judges in their respective high courts.

Born on April 16, 1961, Justice Bindal was to demit office in April this year on attaining the age of 62 years. But following his elevation to the Supreme Court, he now has three more years in service. High court judges retire at 62 years of age and Supreme Court judges at 65.

Justice Kumar was born on July 14, 1962, and would turn 61 in July this year.

Earlier this week, Rajasthan high court Chief Justice Pankaj Mithal, Patna high court Chief Justice Sanjay Karol, Manipur high court Chief Justice PV Sanjay Kumar, Patna high court judge Ahsanuddin Amanullah and Allahabad high court judge Manoj Misra took oath as Supreme Court judges after their elevation last Saturday.

Between May and July this year, six judges of the apex court will demit office upon attaining the age of 65.

Earlier, the apex court had its full strength twice in 2019 and for a brief while in 2022.

The top court had full strength between May 25 and August 27 in 2019 when its sanctioned strength was 31.

The second time the apex court attained its full strength in 2019 was between September 23 and November 17.

The sanctioned strength of Supreme Court had gone up to 34 by then.

The sanctioned strength of the top court was increased from 31 to 34 judges, including the CJI, in August 2019 by an Act of Parliament.

On May 9, 2022, when Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Jamshed Burjor Pardiwala took oath as Supreme Court judges, the apex court once again attained maximum strength. But on the evening of May 10, following the retirement of Justice Vineet Saran, the working strength came down to 33.