Supreme Court gets two new judges

Tags: National National News

CJI DY Chandrachud administered the oath of office to Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and senior advocate Kalpathy Venkataraman Viswanathan as a judge of the Supreme Court on 19th May.

An overview of the news

• With this, the total strength of judges in the Supreme Court has gone up to the sanctioned strength of 34.

• However, the number of Supreme Court justices will remain at its highest level for only a short period as three judges are due to retire in June.

• Justice KM Joseph, Justice Ajay Rastogi and Justice V Ramasubramanian are set to complete their tenure next month during the summer vacation. 

• Summer vacation of the apex court will run from May 22 to July 2.

• Justice Vishwanathan, the newly appointed Supreme Court judge, will become the Chief Justice of India after the retirement of Justice JB Pardiwala on August 11, 2030, and will hold office till May 25, 2031.

• The warrant of appointment of Justice Mishra and Justice Vishwanathan as judges of the apex court was issued by the office of President Draupadi Murmu on May 18.

Appointment of Judges : Collegium System 

• The collegium system in India refers to the process of appointment and transfer of judges in the higher judiciary, which includes the Supreme Court and the High Courts.

• Under this system, a collegium of the Chief Justice of India and four senior-most judges of the Supreme Court recommend appointments and transfers to the President of India, who has the power to make the appointments.

• The system was established by a 1993 judgement of the Supreme Court and has been the subject of controversy and criticism.

• Some have criticized it for lack of transparency and accountability, while others have defended it as necessary to ensure the independence of the judiciary.

National Judicial Appointments Commission

• The National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) was a proposed body in India that was intended to replace the existing collegium system for the appointment and transfer of judges to the higher judiciary.

• The NJAC Act was passed by the Indian Parliament in 2014, but it was later struck down by the Supreme Court of India in 2015 on the grounds that it violated the basic structure of the Indian Constitution.

• The court held that the NJAC Act sought to undermine the independence of the judiciary and the basic feature of separation of powers between the executive and the judiciary.

• As a result, the collegium system was restored and continues to be used for the appointment of judges to the higher judiciary in India.