Two new SC judges sworn in; top court attains full strength of 34

Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud on February 13 administered the oath of office to two new judges of the Supreme Court, Justices Rajesh Bindal and Aravind Kumar. With this, the apex court has attained full strength of 34 judges after a gap of nine months.

Justice Bindal served as the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court and Justice Kumar was the Chief Justice of Gujarat High Court before being elevated to the Supreme Court.

President Droupadi Murmu signed the warrants of appointment of Justices Rajesh Bindal and Aravind Kumar to the Supreme Court. The new judges were inducted after a swearing-in ceremony on Monday.

The Supreme Court Collegium had recommended their names to the Centre for elevation on January 31.

Born on April 16, 1961, Bindal was to demit office in April this year on attaining the age of 62 years. Now that he has moved to Supreme Court, Bindal has three more years in service.

Justice Kumar, born on July 14, 1962, will turn 61 in July 2023.

The retirement age for High Court judges is 62 years while for Supreme Court judges, it is 65 years.

Apart from these two names, five judges recently took oath as Supreme Court judges after their elevation.

Rajasthan High Court (HC) Chief Justice Pankaj Mithal; Patna HC Chief Justice Sanjay Karol; Manipur HC Chief Justice PV Sanjay Kumar; Patna HC judge Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah; and Allahabad HC judge, Justice Manoj Misra took oath as judges of the top court.

The names of these five judges were recommended by the Supreme Court Collegium in December last year.

It was the second time when so many judges were appointed in one single batch. Nine judges were sworn in one go in 2021.

(With ANI inputs)

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