New Delhi: Justices Indira Banerjee, Naveen Saran and K.M. Joseph were on Tuesday sworn in as Judges of the Supreme Court as per the order of seniority mandated by the President in the warrant of appointment. The Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra administered the oath of office to the three new judges at a brief ceremony held in the First Court hall. With their appointment the strength of judges in the apex court has gone up to 25 with six vacancies still to be filled up.
On Monday the CJI had assured Justices Madan B Lokur, Kurian Joseph and few others that he would take up with the Union government the question of Justice K.M. Joseph’s seniority, which was altered, from number ‘one’ to ‘three’, in a departure from the collegium’s recommendation.
However, the Centre came out with a clarification that since Justice K.M. Joseph is junior to Justices Banerjee and Saran in the all India rank among judges, Justice Joseph’s rank was altered from the original recommendation made by the collegium. With the induction of Justice Banerjee, the Supreme Court has now three women Judges serving for the first time in the 68 year history of the Supreme Court. At present Justices R. Banumathi and Indu Malhotra are the two women judges and Justice Banerjee has joined them and she is the eighth woman judge in the apex court.
