Centre clears appointment of three judges to the Supreme Court

SC to get three new judges

The central government on November 8 cleared the appointments of justices Satish Chandra Sharma, Augustine George Masih, and Sandeep Mehta as judges of the Supreme Court.

Among the newly appointed judges, Sharma was the chief justice of Delhi high court, while Masih and Mehta were the chief justices of Rajasthan and Guwahati high courts respectively. Their names were recommended for SC judgeship by the collegium on November 6 and were cleared by the central government in just two days. These judges are expected to be administered their oath by the Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud at 4:15 PM on November 9.

With these appointments, the SC now has its full strength of 34 judges. The top court is expected to function at its full strength till Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul's retirement on December 24.

Prior to these appointments, the SC had three vacancies after the retirement of Justices Ravindra Bhat, Krishna Murari and Ramasubramanian in the last 4 months.  The last set of appointments to SC took place in July 2023, with the elevations of Justices Ujjal Bhuyan and Venkatnarayana Bhatti.

What did the collegium recommendation say?

As per the resolution, the judgments delivered by Satish Chandra Sharma, the current Chief Justice of Delhi HC, deal with various branches of law and stand testimony to his legal acumen and competence.

Regarding Justice Masih, the Collegium notes that he has an expertise in Constitutional, service, labour, and civil matters. According to the resolution Justice Masih is number 7 in seniority in the list of All India judges and the senior most judge from Punjab and Haryana HC. The resolution mentions that he is from a minority community.

About Sandeep Mehta, the resolution points out he hails from the Rajasthan High Court and emphasises there is no representation from his court in SC. The resolution also notes that he has a long adjudicatory experience in the courts and his appointment to SC will be a value addition in terms of his acquired knowledge and experience.