Two newly appointed Supreme Court judges to take oath on Monday
New Delhi, February 12
Two newly appointed Supreme Court judges—Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice Aravind Kumar—will be administered oath of office by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud on Monday.
Once they take oath of office, the Supreme Court will gain its full strength of 34 judges, including the Chief Justice of India, after a gap of nine months.
Before being elevated as judges of the top court, Justice Bindal was the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court while Justice Kumar was the Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court.
The Centre had on February 10 notified their appointment, 10 days after the six-member Supreme Court Collegium led by CJI Chandrachud recommended their elevation as judges of the top court.
Last time, the top court functioned at its full sanctioned strength was on May 9 last year when Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Justice JB Pardiwala took oath.
While the Collegium’s resolution for the elevation of Justice Bindal was unanimous, Justice Joseph had expressed his reservations to the elevation of Justice Kumar on the grounds that his name could be considered at a later stage, the top court announced on its website. Justice Bindal stood at serial number 2 in the combined All-India-seniority of high court judges, while Justice Kumar was at number 26.
Justice Bindal was appointed a judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court on March 22, 2006 and went on to become the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court on October 11, 2021. He is the senior-most judge hailing from the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
Justice Kumar was appointed an additional judge of the Karnataka High Court on June 26, 2009 and as a permanent Judge on December 7, 2012. He was elevated as Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court on October 13, 2021. Justice Kumar is the second senior-most judge hailing from the Karnataka High Court.
Interestingly, the Supreme Court is also scheduled to hear on Monday petitions alleging inordinate delay on the part of the Centre in clearing the names recommended by the Collegium for appointment as judges to the top court and various high courts.
On February 3, a Bench led by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul had also expressed strong displeasure over the delay in clearing recommendations for the transfer of high court judges, terming it a “very serious issue”.
Attorney General R Venkataramani assured the Bench that the Collegium’s December 13 recommendation for the elevation of five judges to the apex court will be cleared soon. The appointments have since been notified and the five judges have already taken oath.
