SC gets three new judges

New Delhi: Justices Sudhansu J Mukhopadhaya, Ranjana P Desai and J S Khehar took oath as Supreme Court judges on Tuesday even as the Collegium headed by Chief Justice S H Kapadia prepared to recommend names to the government for filling four more vacancies that would arise by October 15.
The apex court has a sanctioned strength of 31 judges, including the CJI. But, it has been functioning with 29 judges for some time and recently three of them — Justices B Sudershan Reddy, V S Sirpurkar and H S Bedi — had retired.
Though the three new judges would up the working strength back to 29, four more — Justices M K Sharma, Markandey Katju (both retire this month), J M Panchal and R V Raveendra (who retire in October) — would bid farewell to the top judicial institution by October 15.
The Collegium has already recommended the names of Delhi High Court Chief Justice Deepak Misra and Kerala HC Chief Justice Jasti Chelameswar to the government for appointment as judges of the Supreme Court. And it has to work overtime to find names for filling the vacancies.