President Droupadi Murmu appointed 5 new judges to the Supreme Court on Saturday after the Centre cleared the proposal given by the collegium in December last year. The five appointed judges are Justice Pankaj Mithal, Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court, Justice Sanjay Karol, Chief Justice of Patna High Court, Justice P.V. Sanjay Kumar, Chief Justice of Manipur High Court, Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah, Judge Patna High Court and Justice Manoj Misra, Judge, Allahabad High Court.
They will be taking oath on Monday, at 10.30 a.m. in the Supreme Court by Chief Justice of India Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud and after that the apex court strength will go to 32 and two more names need to be cleared by the Centre after which the Supreme Court with its full capacity of 34 judges can function. Right now the top court consists of 27 judges which also includes the Chief Justice of India.
Due to the collegium system where the judges appoint judges has drawn criticism from different quarters. Law minister Kiren Rijiju has attacked the process of appointing judges repeatedly and said that the Collegium system was “alien” to the constitution.
The appointments came after a word of caution was given from a Supreme Court Bench led by Justice S.K. Kaul and said that things would get “uncomfortable” if the government delays judicial appointments and transfers. He also warned by stating “if you keep them pending… you will make us take some very, very difficult decisions”.