NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court collegium on Monday recommended Delhi High Court Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma, Rajasthan HC Chief Justice Augustine George Masih and Gauhati High Court Chief Justice Sandeep Mehta as SC judges.
If the names are cleared by the Centre, the SC will have the full strength of 34 judges. The collegium, headed by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, in its resolution said the SC is currently functioning with 31 Judges. The SC has a huge backlog of cases.
“In view of the ever-mounting pendency of cases, the workload of judges has increased considerably. Bearing in mind the above, it has become necessary to ensure that the Court has full working judge-strength leaving no vacancy at any point of time. Bearing in mind the above, the Collegium has decided to fill up all three existing vacancies by recommending names,” said the collegium, also comprising judges Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, B R Gavai, and Surya Kant.
The names of chief justices and senior puisne judges of the HCs were discussed. “Judgments authored by those falling in the zone of consideration for elevation to the Supreme Court were circulated among the members of the Collegium, well in advance, for a meaningful discussion on and assessment of their judicial acumen.” The SC’s Centre for Research and Planning prepared background material to assist it.
