Four new Supreme Court judges to take oath today

Four new Supreme Court justices will take oath on Monday, taking the strength of India's highest court to 34. The Centre had on September 18 notified the appointment of four new judges to the Supreme Court.

Justices V Ramasubramanian, Krishna Murari, S Ravindra Bhat and Hrishikesh Roy - all four chief justices of different high courts in the country - will take oath at as Supreme Court judges on Monday.

After the appointment of new judges, the Supreme Court will have 33 judges besides the Chief Justice of India. The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill was passed by Parliament last month and President Ram Nath Kovind gave his assent soon after. After the law came into force, the Supreme Court on August 28 collegium recommended the names of V Ramasubramanian, Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh; Krishna Murari, Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court; SA Ravindra Bhat, Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court and Hrishikesh Roy, Chief Justice of Kerala.

This comes amid the decision that the Supreme Court will have single-judge benches hearing and deciding cases related to bail, anticipatory bail and transfer petitions. The crucial move ordered by the Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi is intended to bring down the pendency of cases in the court. Currently, a minimum of two judges preside over cases in the apex court which has 59,616 cases pending. Two additional courtrooms have also been created in SC, taking the number to 17. The new courtrooms are expected to function from Monday.