Supreme Court: Four new justices take oath, strength rises to 28

The Supreme Court of Indian got four new justices on Friday. Justices Hemant Gupta, R Subhash Reddy, M R Shah and Ajay Rastogi were sworn as the top judges of the apex court and the oath to office was administered by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi. With this, the total strength of the apex court reached to 28, which has a sanctioned strength of 31 judges.

Earlier the elevation of the all four judges was cleared by the Supreme Court Collegium comprising the five most senior judges — Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Madan B Lokur, Kurian Joseph, A K Sikri and S A Bobde — on October 29, reports Indian Express.

Soon after the oath taking ceremony concluded, CJI Gogoi announced, “All courts will sit for normal work at 11.30 am.”

Prior to the induction in the Supreme Court, Justice Hemant Gupta had served as Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court and Patna High Court. Similarly, Justice Reddy had served as Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh High Court, while Justice Mukeshkumar Rasikbhai Shah served as Chief Justice of Patna High Court and Gujarat High Court. Justice Rastogi served as judge of Rajasthan High Court and was elevated to elevated as the Chief Justice of Tripura High Court.

This was the first time that President Ram Nath Kovind approved the appointment of four justices in just 24 hours, after the collegium’s recommendations.

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