SUPREME COURT JUDGES APPOINTMENT

May 26, 2019

Justices Hemant Gupta, R.Subhash Reddy, M.R. Shah and Ajay Rastogi were sworn in as judges of the Supreme Court, taking its strength to 28, just three short of the sanctioned 31 judges. Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi administered oath of office to the four judges.

Appointment Procedure:

Article 124(3) of the constitution mentions the following people as eligible to become a Supreme Court (SC) Judge:
- A High Court (HC) judge who has held that post for 5 years or more.
- An advocate who has practiced in the HC/SC for 10 years or more.
- A distinguished Jurist (no judge appointed on this basis till date).
Article 124(2) says that the President of India Shall appoint the judges after consultation with such number of Judges of the SC/HC as he deems necessary. For appointment of any Judge of SC (other than CJI), the CJI must be consulted.
The three Judges case of 1981, 1993 & 1998 has formalised the collegium system for the purpose of consultation.
- The collegium for appointing SC judge consists of the CJI and 4 senior-most judges of SC.
- Memorandum of Procedure (MoP) was set up after the Third Judge Case of 1998 to provide the process of how the Collegium would recommend names to the Executive.
The President of India can either accept the recommendation or send it back for reconsideration. The reconsidered advice must be accepted by the President.