4 new judges take oath, SC now has full strength of 31

New Delhi, May 24: Four new judges of the Supreme Court were administered the oath of office by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi on Friday, taking their overall number to 31 – the full sanctioned strength of the top court. Justices B.R. Gavai, Surya Kant, Aniruddha Bose and A.S. Bopanna were administered the oath of office by the CJI at court no.1 in the presence of several other sitting apex court judges.

Among the 31 judges, the apex court has three women judges - Justices R. Banumathi, Indu Malhotra and Indira Banerjee. Justices Malhotra and Banerjee were recently part of the three-member in-house panel headed by Justice S.A. Bobde, which gave a clean chit to Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi after holding an inquiry into the sexual harassment allegation levelled by a former apex court woman staffer against him.

The apex court, which was functioning with 27 judges including the CJI, has now reached its full strength for the first time since 2008 when Parliament had increased their number from 26 to 31.

President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday issued warrants of appointment of the four judges. The names of Justices Bose and Bopanna were earlier returned by the Centre to the Supreme Court collegium, citing seniority and representation of regions as the reasons. In its May 8 resolution, the five-member collegium had reiterated its recommendation to elevate them, observing that nothing adverse has been found against them. – PTI