Nine SC judges take oath, including 3 women judges

NEW DELHI: In a first, three women judges, including justice B V Nagarathna who is in line to be the first woman Chief Justice of India (CJI) in September 2027, took oath of office as judges of the Supreme Court on Tuesday.

In all, nine judges took oath of office at one go, the highest ever, taking the working strength of the top court to 33.

Apart from justice Nagarathna, Chief Justice of India (CJI) NV Ramana administered the oath to office tot justices Abhay Shreeniwas Oka, Vikram Nath, Jitendra Kumar

Maheshwari, Hima Kohli, CT Ravikumar, MM Sundresh, Bela M Trivedi and PS Narasimha.

Prior to the swearing-in of justices Kohli, Nagarathna and Trivedi, only eight women judges, including sitting judge justice Indira Banerjee, were appointed as apex court judges.

The Supreme Court, which came into being on January 26, 1950, has seen very few women judges since its inception and in the last over 71 years -- only eight, starting with justice M Fathima Beevi in 1989.

The seven other female judges appointed to the apex court are -- justices Sujata V Manohar, Ruma Pal, Gyan Sudha Misra, Ranjana P Desai,

R Banumathi, Indu Malhotra and Indira Banerjee.

Justice Hima Kohli was the chief justice of the Telangana high court before being appointed as a judge of the top court. Justice Nagarathna, who is the daughter of former CJI ES Venkataramiah, was a judge of the Karnataka high court before being elevated to the apex court.

She is in line to become the CJI in September 2027 and would have a tenure of over a month as the head of the judiciary.

Justice Trivedi was a judge of the Gujarat high court before being elevated to the apex court and she belonged to the judicial service category.

The recommendation of these nine names by the fivemember collegium headed by CJI Ramana at its meeting on August 17 had put an end to the 21-month-long logjam over appointment of new judges to the top court..