Supreme Court to get four new judges after a 15-month interlude

The Supreme Court collegium headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur made four recommendations for appointments of judges to the apex court on Wednesday. The collegium has recommended the names of three current chief justices of the high courts namely D Y Chandrachud of the Allahabad High Court, A M Khanwilkar of the Madhya Pradesh High Court and Ashok Bhushan of the Kerala High Court.

The collegium has also recommended senior advocate and former Additional-Solicitor General L Nageshwara Rao, the Supreme Court counsel for Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in the disproportionate assets case for the position. If confirmed, Rao will become the seventh direct judicial appointment in the history of the Supreme Court, the last ones being Rohintan Nariman and Uday U Lalit 15 years ago. According to the Union law ministry, there commendations shall be processed and the appointments will be made within a fortnight.

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The current recommendations follow Chief Justice Thakur’s impassioned plea on the paucity of judges while addressing the prime minister and chief ministers of the states on April 24.

The present strength of judges in the apex court is 25, while the sanctioned strength is 31. The current recommendations couldn't have come at a better time as five incumbent judges are to retire this year namely Justices Kalifulla, V Gopala Gowda, C Nagappan, Anil R Dave and ShivaKirti Singh. The last appointment to the Supreme Court wasJustice Amitav Roy in February 2015.

Since then no further appointments have been made, as the collegium system was not allowed to function due to the introduction and subsequent challenge of the National Judicial Appointments Commission, which was finally struck down in October 2015.

Subsequently the Centre, in consultation with the Supreme Court, took a while to establish a Memorandum of Procedure that finally paves the way to make fresh appointments to the judiciary for the apex court and the various high courts in the nation.