Five sworn in as Supreme Court judges, taking top court to near-full strength

The Supreme Court of India has been bolstered with the swearing-in of five new judges, bringing the total working strength to 36, excluding the Chief Justice. This significant round of appointments, including four high court chief justices and a senior advocate, moves the apex court closer to its expanded sanctioned strength.

The new justices, Sheel Nagu, Shree Chandrashekhar, Sanjeev Sachdeva, Arun Palli, and senior advocate V Mohana, took their oath of office on Tuesday. The appointments were officially notified by the Union government on Monday, following recommendations made by the Supreme Court collegium on May 27.

These appointments come shortly after the Union government increased the Supreme Court's sanctioned strength from 33 to 37 judges, excluding the Chief Justice. This move aims to tackle the mounting backlog of over 92,000 cases and facilitate the formation of larger benches for complex matters.

The collegium's selection process reportedly considered regional representation, seniority, merit, and gender diversity. Justice Nagu previously served as Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Justice Chandrashekhar was the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court, while Justice Sachdeva headed the Madhya Pradesh High Court. Justice Palli led the Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court. The inclusion of V Mohana marks an increase in women's representation on the bench.

With these five additions, the Supreme Court now has only one vacancy against its sanctioned strength of 37 judges, significantly enhancing its capacity to handle the judicial workload.