Chief Justice DY Chandrachud on Monday administered oath of office to five new judges of the Supreme Court.
The newly-appointed judges are Justices Pankaj Mithal, Sanjay Karol, PV Sanjay Kumar, Ahsanuddin Amanullah and Manoj Misra.
With their appointment, the number of judges in the Supreme Court has now reached 32 against the sanctioned strength of 34.
The Supreme Court collegium had recommended the names of these judges for elevation on December 13. Their appointment was notified by the Centre on Saturday.
The notification came a day after the Supreme Court had pulled up the Union government for delaying the appointments. The court had given the Centre 10 days to process the appointments after Attorney General N Venkataramani had said that it would be done soon.
In response, Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju had said that the country will be run according to the Constitution and nobody can give a warning to anyone.
“Sometimes discussions are held in the country on some matters and in a democracy everyone has the right to express their opinion,” he had said. “But people sitting in responsible positions have to think before saying anything, whether it will benefit the country or not.”
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