SC gets two new judges as Centre clears their appointment, apex court now has full strength

The central government has appointed two new Supreme Court judges, taking the top court’s strength to full.

Union law minister Kiren Rijiju took to Twitter to announce the development and said two high court chief justices were on Friday elevated to the Supreme Court, bringing the total strength of the apex court to its maximum of 34 judges.

“As per the provisions under the Constitution of India, Hon’ble President of India has appointed the following Chief Justices of High CCloseourts as Judges of the Supreme Court. My best to them: Rajesh Bindal, Chief Justice, Allahabad HC and Aravind Kumar, Chief Justice, Gujarat HC,” Law Minister Kiren Rijiju tweeted.

Once they take the oath, the top court will achieve its full strength of 34 judges, including the Chief Justice of India. It is only after September 2019, that the Supreme Court attained its full strength. Their names were recommended by the Supreme Court Collegium last month. Last week, five judges were appointed to the Supreme Court.

However, vacancies in the Supreme court will increase with the retirement of nine judges throughout this year. January 2023 saw the retirement of Justice Abdul Nazeer. In May, Justice M R Shah will retire, Justices K M Joseph, Ajay Rastogi, and V Ramasubramaniam will retire in June, Justice Krishan Murari will demit office in July, followed by the retirement of Justice Ravindra Bhatt in October, and Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul in December.

Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, in his tenure till November 2024, will have to finalise 19 judicial appointments.

Here are the profiles of the newly appointed SC judges.

Justice Rajesh Bindal: Presently, he is the Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court. He had earlier served as the acting Chief Justice of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court. He was also the former acting Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court. He joined the profession in the High Court of Punjab and Haryana in September 1985.

Justice Aravind Kumar: He has been the Chief Justice of the Gujarat High court since 2021. He was elevated as an additional Judge to the High Court of Karnataka in 2009. He was enrolled in the year 1987 as an advocate.