The Centre on Friday cleared the appointment of two more judges – Justice Rajesh Bindal and Aravind Kumar – as the judges of the Supreme Court. With these appointments, the top court now will be working at its full strength of 34.
“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,” Union Minister for Law and Justice Kiren Rijiju said in a tweet.
On January 31, the Collegium recommended Justice Rajesh Bindal, Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court and Justice Aravind Kumar, Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court for appointment as judges of the Supreme Court.
A judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Justice Bindal was acting Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court before he was appointed Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court in October 2021. He will have a tenure of over two years till April 15, 2025.
Justice Kumar was a judge in the Karnataka High Court before he was appointed Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court. He will have a tenure of over three years till July 13, 2026.
On February 4, just three days after the Supreme Court Collegium, recommended Justices Bindal and Kumar for appointment as Supreme Court judges, the government cleared five earlier recommendations that were pending for over seven weeks. The Collegium usually waits for a file to be cleared first before sending more recommendations.
With the two latest appointments, the Supreme Court now has 34 judges — its full strength. However, the Collegium headed by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud has its task cut out as eight judges are set to retire this year. Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and M R Shah will retire on May 14 and May 15, respectively. Justices K M Joseph and Ajay Rastogi will retire on June 16 and June 17, respectively.
Source: Indian Express
