9 Judges For SC, 5 Addl Judges For Calcutta HC Appointed

IN a significant development, the President of India has appointed nine judges for the Supreme Court of India on the recommendation of the apex court’s collegium and the Central government has notified the appointment of five persons as additional judges of Calcutta High Court. Among the nine SC judges, three are women. Justice BV Nagarathna, of the Karnataka High Court, is in line to become the first woman Chief Justice of India to create a milestone in the nation’s history. PS Narasimha, among the judges for the Supreme Court elevation, is also in line to become the Chief Justice, the third lawyer from the bar to occupy the top position. Justice SM Sikri was the first lawyer to be elevated directly to the Supreme Court bench in March 1964. He became the Chief Justice of India seven years later. Justice Uday Umesh  Lalit, who was also elevated directly from a lawyer to a Supreme Court judge, is set to become Chief Justice after NV Ramana retires next year in August. The new judges will be Karnataka High Court Chief Justice AS Oka, Gujarat High Court Chief Justice Vikram Nath; Sikkim Chief Justice JK Maheshwari, Telangana Chief Justice Hima Kohli; Justice BV Nagarathna of the Karnataka High Court, Kerala High Court Judge Justice CT Ravikumar; Madras High Court Judge Justice MM Sundresh; Gujarat High Court Judge Justice Bela M Trivedi and Senior Advocate PS Narasimha. The judges will take oath on August 31. With their joining, the SC will have a total of 33 judges against the sanctioned of 34 judges.

The 5 Additional Judges appointed for the Kolkata HC are Kesang Doma Bhutia, Rabindranath Samanta, Sugato Majumdar, Bivas Pattanayak and Ananda Kumar Mukherjee. Sugato Majumdar and Bivas Pattanayak have been appointed for a period of 2 years, whereas the other persons have been given shorter tenures. Kesang Doma Bhutia has been given a tenure of a little over 9 months till May 4, 2022. Rabindranath Samanta has been appointed till June 23, 2023, while Ananda Kumar Mukherjee has been given tenure till August 4, 2022. PKC