Supreme Court gets five new judges; strength reaches 32

Five new judges will make their way into the Supreme Court of India after the Centre on Saturday cleared their appointments, as recommended by the Collegium on December 13, 2022. The appointments to the apex court were announced by Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju.

The five judges appointed to the Supreme Court are: 

• Justice Pankaj Mithal, Chief Justice, Rajasthan High Court
• Justice Sanjay Karol, Chief Justice, Patna High Court
• Justice P V Sanjay Kumar, Chief Justice, Manipur High Court
• Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah of Patna High Court
• Justice Manoj Misra of Allahabad High Court

The strength of the Supreme Court will climb to 32 judges from the current 27 (including Chief Justice of India) after the five new judges take oath early next week. The sanctioned strength of the apex court is 34, including the CJI.

The apex court appointments come amid strong observations by a SC bench which questioned the delay on part of the government in appointment and transfer of judges based on the SC Collegium's recommendations. The five appointments were made after the government made a considered decision and have nothing to do with the SC observation, a senior government functionary has said.

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(With inputs from PTI)