SC may get five judges; Centre says new appointments coming through

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court might soon get five new judges, the Centre informed a two-judge bench of the apex court on Friday.

Attorney General (AG) R. Venkataramani said that the new appointments will be cleared very soon.

The bench comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Abhay S. Oka asked the AG, representing the Centre, five names were sent in December for appointment as judges to the apex court and two names were sent recently and now it is February, and further added, should it be recorded that the notification would be issued?

The AG responded the new appointments may come through very soon and indicated that something may happen by Sunday.

On December 13, 2022, the collegium recommended the five names for appointment as judges of the Supreme Court, namely Justice Pankaj Mithal, Justice Sanjay Karol, Justice P.V. Sanjay Kumar, Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah, and Justice Manoj Misra.

Their appointment is yet to be notified by the government.

The Supreme Court of India has a sanctioned strength of 34 judges and is presently functioning with 27.

Thus, there are seven clear vacancies.

On January 31, the Supreme Court collegium recommended the elevation of Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice Aravind Kumar as judges to the apex court.

Justice Bindal is the Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court and Justice Kumar is the Chief Justice Gujarat High Court.

The top court was hearing a contempt petition filed by Advocates Association of Bangalore against Centre breaching the timeline for judicial appointments.