NEW DELHI: Chief Justice of India Surya Kant on Tuesday administered the oath of office to five newly appointed judges of the Supreme Court, taking the strength of judges in the apex court to 37, the highest ever.
The swearing-in ceremony was held at the Supreme Court premises, where the Chief Justice administered the oath to Sheel Nagu, Shree Chandrashekhar, Sanjeev Sachdeva, Arun Palli and V Mohana as judges of the apex court.
With the induction of the five judges, the Supreme Court's working strength has risen to 37, just one short of its newly enhanced sanctioned strength of 38 judges.
The Union Government had on Monday cleared the appointments of Justice Sheel Nagu, Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court; Justice Shree Chandrashekhar, Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court; Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva, Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court; Justice Arun Palli, Chief Justice of the Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court; and senior advocate V Mohana as judges of the Supreme Court.
The appointments come shortly after the Centre promulgated an ordinance amending the relevant law to increase the sanctioned strength of the Supreme Court from 34 to 38 judges, including the Chief Justice of India.
The expansion is aimed at strengthening the apex court's capacity to handle its growing workload and reduce pendency of cases. With the latest appointments, the Supreme Court is now operating at its highest-ever strength of 37 judges.