The President of India, Ram Nath Kovind has appointed the Acting Chief Justice(ACJ) for the High Courts(HC) of Telangana, Sikkim & Karnataka by exercising his power conferred by Article 223 of the Constitution of India.
The current Chief Justice(CJ) of these high courts will be relinquished of the charge following their appointment as the Judges of the Supreme court of India.
Details of the appointments:
Karnataka HC:
Justice Satish Chandra Sharma, the senior-most judge of Karnataka HC will take charge as the ACJ, succeeding Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka (AS Oka).
Sikkim HC:
Justice Meenakshi Madan Rai, the senior-most Judge of Sikkim HC will take charge as the ACJ succeeding Justice Jitendra Kumar Maheshwari.
Telangana HC:
Justice Mamidanna Satya Ratna Sri Ramachandra Rao, the senior-most Judge of Telangana HC will take charge as ACJ succeeding Justice Hima Kohli.
Background:
i.The President of India accepted the recommendation of the Supreme Court collegium and appointed 9 Supreme Court Judges by exercising the powers conferred by clause (2) of Article 124 of the Constitution of India.
ii.The appointment of the 9 Judges including 3 women, takes the total strength of judges of the Supreme court to 33 (including the Chief Justice of India (CJI)), the maximum possible strength of the Supreme Court is 34.
iii.The retirement age of Supreme Court judges is 65.
Appointment of Judges of the Supreme Court of India:
i.CJI NV Ramana administered the oath of office for the 9 new judges on 31st August 2021 at the auditorium of the Supreme Court’s additional building complex.
ii.For the first time, 9 judges took the oath of office at one go in the Supreme Court of India.
iii.The 9 judges are,
- Justice AS Oka – CJ of the Karnataka HC
- Justice Vikram Nath – CJ of the Gujarat HC
- Justice Jitendra Kumar Maheshwari – CJ of the Sikkim HC
- Justice Hima Kohli – CJ of the Telangana HC
- Justice B V Nagarathna – judge of the Karnataka HC
- Justice C T Ravikumar – judge of the Kerala HC
- Justice M M Sundresh – judge of the Madras HC
- Justice Bela M Trivedi – judge of the Gujarat HC
- Justice P S Narasimha – senior advocate & former Additional Solicitor General
Note:
Justices Nath, Nagarathna and Narasimha are in line to become the CJI.
Justice Nath will succeed sitting judge Justice Surya Kant in February 2027.
Additional info:
Justice M Fathima Beevi, appointed to the Supreme court in 1989, became the first woman judge of the Supreme court of India.
Justice AM Khanwilkar Appointed as Chairman of SCLSC:
Justice AM Khanwilkar, the second senior-most judge in the Supreme Court, has been appointed as the Chairman of Supreme Court Legal Services Committee(SCLSC). He succeeded Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman(RF Nariman) who retired on 12th August 2021.
- The notification of the appointment was issued by the Ministry of Law and Justice.
- He was nominated by the Central Authority in the exercise of the powers conferred by Section 3A of Legal Service Authorities Act, 1987(39 of 1987) read with rule 10 of the National Legal Services Authority Rules.
Recent Related News:
i.The President of India has appointed Justice Vineet Kothari as the acting Chief Justice (CJ) of the Gujarat High Court (HC) until his retirement on September 2, 2021. He will succeed incumbent Chief Justice Vikram Nath who has been elevated to the Supreme Court.
ii.On 6th April 2021, the President of India Appointed Justice Nuthalapati Venkata Ramana, Judge of the Supreme Court, as the 48th Chief Justice of India (CJI). The notification regarding the appointment was issued by the Department of Justice, Ministry of Law and Justice.
About Supreme court of India:
The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, 1956, fixes the maximum number of judges in the Supreme Court at 30 judges (excluding the Chief Justice of India).
The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill, 2019 increases this number from 30 to 33(excluding CJI).
The Supreme court of India came into being on 26th January 1950.
Chief Justice of India– Justice Nuthalapati Venkata Ramana
Located in Delhi
