Centre appoints two new judges to Supreme Court, including first from Manipur

Once the two judges are sworn in, the top Court will function at its full strength of 34 judges

The Centre on Tuesday cleared the appointment of two new judges -- Justice N Kotiswar Singh and Justice R Mahadevan -- to the Supreme Court of India.

Last week, the Supreme Court Collegium had recommended the appointment of Jammu & Kashmir High Court Chief Justice N Kotiswar Singh and Madras High Court Acting Chief Justice R Mahadevan as judges of Supreme Court.

Once the two judges are sworn in, the top Court will function at its full strength of 34 judges.

The vacancies arose after Justices Aniruddha Bose and AS Bopanna retired in April and May respectively.

Kotiswar Singh originally hails from Manipur. He was appointed as a Judge of the Gauhati High Court in October 2011. On the formation of the High Court of Manipur, he was transferred there from the Gauhati High Court. In February 2023, he was appointed as Chief Justice of the High Court for Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. He was due to retire on 28 February 2025.

On his recommendation, the Collegium said, “His appointment as a Judge of the Supreme Court will provide representation to the North-East, and in particular he will be the first Judge from the State of Manipur to be appointed as a Judge of the Supreme Court.”

Collegium noted that Singh has an impeccable record, both in judicial capacity and on the administrative side, as the Chief Justice of the High Court for Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

Mahadevan is a Judge of the Madras High Court and is presently the Acting Chief Justice of the court. The Collegium recommendation said, “Mr Justice Mahadevan belongs to a backward community from the State of Tamil Nadu. His appointment will bring diversity to the Bench.”

The Collegium reasoned that though Mahadevan is third in the list of seniority, precedence was given to his candidature in order to give representation to the backward community.