2 judges elevated to Supreme Court; all vacancies filled in apex court

New Delhi: The Supreme Court will now function with its maximum strength of 34 judges, with two high court chief justices being elevated to the top court on Friday.

Law Minister Kiren Rijiju took to Twitter to announce the fresh appointments to the top court and extended his best wishes to them.

Justice Rajesh Bindal, Chief Justice, Allahabad HC and Justice Aravind Kumar, Chief Justice, Gujarat HC are likely to take oath as judges of the Supreme Court in the next two days, sources aware of the process of appointing judges to the higher judiciary said.

Once they take oath, the top court will achieve its full strength of 34 judges, including the Chief Justice of India.

Their names were recommended by the Supreme Court Collegium on January 31.

The Department of Justice in the Union law ministry issued separate notifications announcing their appointments.

Last week, five judges were appointed to the Supreme Court.

While all six members of the Collegium, led by CJI DY Chandrachud, were unanimous in recommending the name of Justice Bindal, Justice K M Joseph had reservation on the name of Justice Kumar, according to a resolution uploaded on the apex court website.

On Saturday last, 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, Judge, Patna High Court; and Justice Manoj Misra, Judge, Allahabad High Court , were elevated to the apex court.

Between May and July this year, six judges of the apex court will demit office upon attaining the age of 65 years.

The retirement age of high court judges is 62.