NEW DELHI -- Justices A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and L Nageshwar Rao were today sworn in as Supreme Court judges, taking the apex court's strength to 29, including Chief Justice T S Thakur.
They were administered the oath of office by CJI Thakur this morning.
Justices Khanwilkar, Chandrachud and Bhushan were the Chief Justices of Madhya Pradesh High Court, Allahabad High Court and Kerala High Court, respectively.
Justice Rao, who was a senior advocate and former Additional Solicitor General, has been elevated as an apex court judge from the bar.
The sanctioned strength of judges in the apex court is 31, including the CJI. There is only one woman judge in the Supreme Court, Justice R Banumathi.
The elevation of the four judges were the first set of recommendations made by the Supreme Court Collegium after the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act which sought to scrap the collegium system as it was struck down by an SC bench in October last year.
The apex court will also see five judges retiring this year, including Justice A R Dave who will retire on 18 November, Justice F M I Kalifulla on 22 July, Justice V Gopala Gowda on 5 October, Justice Shiva Kirti Singh on 12 November and Justice C Nagappan on 3 October. The Chief Justice of India will retire on 3 January, 2017.
Former ASG L Nageshwar Rao is the fourth member from the Bar recommended for Supreme Court judgeship by the collegium after the Narendra Modi government came to power in 2014.
In 2014, U U Lalit and R F Nariman were appointed as SC judges, but the government had returned the file of former Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam citing negative Intelligence Bureau report.
Justice Khanwilkar was appointed as the Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court on 24 November, 2013. Prior to this, he was appointed the Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court on 4 April, 2013.
He became the Additional Judge of the Bombay High Court on 29 March, 2000 and permanent judge on 8 April, 2002.
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