New Delhi, Jun 1 Five new judges appointed to the Supreme Court are scheduled to be sworn in on Tuesday.
Chief Justice of India Surya Kant will administer the oath of office to five new judges at the apex court premises.
With the swearing in, the strength of judges will go up to 37, one short of the upgraded sanctioned strength of 38.
The Centre on Monday cleared the appointment of senior advocate Venkita Subramani Mohana; Justice Shree Chandrashekhar, Chief Justice of Bombay High Court; Justice Sheel Nagu, Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court; Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva, Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court; and Justice Arun Palli, Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court as top court judges.
The government last month promulgated an ordinance amending a law to increase the sanctioned strength of the apex court to 38 from 34, including the Chief Justice of India.
While there were already two vacancies, after the sanctioned strength was increased, altogether six posts became vacant in the apex court.
With five appointments on Monday, the Supreme Court has now one vacancy.
Two Supreme Court judges -- Justice Pankaj Mithal and Justice J K Maheshwari -- are set to retire on June 16 and June 28 respectively.
The five new names were recommended by the Supreme Court Collegium on May 27 and the appointments came through in four days.
Senior advocate Venkita Subramani Mohana, who will also be sworn in on Tuesday has become only the second woman in the country to be directly elevated to the apex court from the Bar after Justice Indu Malhotra in 2018.
Mohana will be one of the two serving women judges in the Supreme Court alongside Justice B V Nagarathna, who has been a judge in the top court since August 31, 2021.
Justice Nagarathna will also become the Chief Justice of India for more than a month in 2027.
Mohana, 59, graduated from the Coimbatore Law College in 1988 and has been practising since then. The Supreme Court designated her as a senior advocate in 2015.
