5 new SC judges take oath; strength rises to record 37

NEW DELHI: CJI Surya Kant on Tuesday administered oath to five new Supreme Court judges — Justices Sheel Nagu, Sree Chandrashekhar, Sanjeev Sachdeva, Arun Palli and V S Mohana — taking the working strength of SC judges to a record 37 with one vacancy.

The entire process — involving the recommendation of names by the five-member CJI-led collegium, vetting of names by govt and issuance of warrants of appointment by the President — was completed within a week. The collegium recommended the names on May 27, warrants of appointment were issued on June 1 after govt cleared them, and the new judges took oath on Tuesday.

Justice Nagu became a judge of Madhya Pradesh HC in May 2011 and was appointed chief justice of Punjab and Haryana HC on July 9, 2024. As an SC judge, he would have a three-and-a-half-year tenure. Justice Nagu was part of the in-house committee panel inquiring into the discovery of partially burnt notes from the residence of then Delhi HC judge Yashwant Varma in March last year.

Bombay HC CJ Chandrashekhar, who had become a judge of his parent HC in Jharkhand in Jan 2013, will have a tenure of less than four years in SC. He was part of the Lok Sabha speaker-appointed committee inquiring into the alleged misconduct of Justice Varma.

MP HC CJ Sachdeva, who had become a judge of Delhi HC in April 2013, will have a tenure of three and a half years. J&K and Ladakh HC CJ Palli, appointed a judge in his parent Punjab and Haryana HC in Dec 2013, will have a tenure of three years and four months as SC judge. Justice Mohana is a first-generation lawyer and became an advocate on record in 1996. Designated as a senior advocate in April 2015, she will have a tenure of five years in SC.

SC started its journey on Jan 26, 1950, with eight judges, including CJI Harilal Jekisondas Kania. The latest increase from 34 to 38 happened last month — a meagre rise compared to CJI Kant’s assessment that SC needed 10 more judges.