Supreme Court gets 2 new judges, regains full strength
The central government cleared the appointments of Justices Aravind Kumar and Rajesh Bindal as Supreme Court (SC) judges on Friday, bringing the court to its full strength of 34 judges. This move comes just days after the country's top court got five new judges. Notably, the names of Kumar and Bindal had been recommended by the six-member SC Collegium on January 31.
Why does this story matter?
The apex court has a sanctioned strength of 34 judges but was operating with 27 judges for a while. The collegium led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud recommended five names for elevation to the SC on December 13, 2022. However, after a two-month dispute between the executive and the judiciary over the appointment procedure, the government cleared the names on Friday.
Kiren Rijiju confirms the appointment of Justices Kumar and Bindal
Announcing the appointment of the new judges to the SC, Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju took to Twitter and wrote: "As per the provisions under the Constitution of India, Hon'ble President of India has appointed the following Chief Justices of High Courts as Judges of the Supreme Court. My best to them. 1.Rajesh Bindal, Chief Justice, Allahabad HC. 2.Aravind Kumar, Chief Justice, Gujarat HC."
Rijiju's tweet on Friday on the matter
Know about Justice Kumar and Justice Bindal
As per Bar and Bench, Justice Kumar was appointed Karnataka High Court's permanent judge in December 2012 after operating as the additional judge in June 2009. He was then promoted to Chief Justice of the Gujarat HC in October 2021. While Justice Bindal, who served as Punjab and Haryana High Court judge in March 2006, was named Allahabad HC Chief Justice in October 2021.
List of new faces who joined SC this week
Earlier this Monday, CJI) DY Chandrachud administered the oath of office to the five judges newly elevated to the Supreme Court. They are: Patna High Court Chief Justice Sanjay Karol, Rajasthan High Court Chief Justice Pankaj Mithal, Allahabad High Court judge Manoj Misra, Patna High Court judge Ahsanuddin Amanullah, and Manipur High Court Chief Justice PV Sanjay Kumar.
Centre pushing for collegium to be replaced by NJAC
In November last year, Law Minister Rijiju pitched the idea to end the collegium system and called it "alien" to the Indian Constitution while alleging that India was the only nation where judges appointed judges. Furthermore, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar also questioned the SC for dismissing the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act and a similar constitutional amendment Act in 2015.
Centre obliged to accept names reaffirmed by collegium
The Centre has been accused of sitting on the recommendations from the collegium. It returned 19 of the 21 names recommended by the SC Collegium in November 2022. The Centre also stalled nearly ten names despite the collegium's reaffirmation of them in July last year. According to the Memorandum of Procedure, the government is bound to accept if the collegium reaffirms a decision.
