The five judges who were appointed to the Supreme Court of India over the weekend, bringing the total to 32 judges instead of the sanctioned strength of 34, took the oath on Monday. The five judges were sworn in by Chief Justice of India, DY Chandrachud.
Justices Pankaj Mithal, Sanjay Karol, PV Sanjay Kumar, Ahsanuddin Amanullah, and Manoj Misra have been appointed.
The six-member Supreme Court Collegium made recommendations for each of the five candidates on December 13 of the previous year. On February 4, the Law Minister approved the appointments.
The judges took their oaths against the backdrop of the collegium system emerging as a major flashpoint between the Supreme Court and the centre. The process by which judges choose other judges has sparked a heated debate that, breaking with tradition, has recently included scathing remarks from Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju.
While Vice President and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar questioned the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act and a related constitution amendment Act in 2015, Rijiju had recently described the Collegium system as being “alien” to the Indian Constitution.
The government aimed to replace the Collegium system of selecting Supreme Court and High Court judges with a new mechanism through the NJAC statute.
Also Read: Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg To Carry Out Another Round Of Layoffs
