Quota of 34 judges in Supreme Court completed: Center approved two new names, appointment of a judge from minority community after 5 years

The central government on Saturday approved the appointment of two new judges of the Supreme Court. Gauhati High Court Chief Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Gujarat High Court Judge Jamshed B Pardiwala have been appointed as judges. The President has also signed the appointment of both the judges. On May 5, the collegium headed by Chief Justice NV Ramana recommended the names of the two judges to the Centre.

Both the judges will take oath of new office next week, now the Supreme Court will fulfill its 34-judge capacity after November 2019. Justice Pardiwala will be the fourth Parsi to be appointed to the Supreme Court. A judge of a minority community has been appointed in the Supreme Court after 5 years. At the same time, Justice Dhulia will be the second judge to reach the Supreme Court from the Uttarakhand High Court.

Justice Pardiwala will be the next Chief Justice
Justice Pardiwala can also be the next Chief Justice of the country. He can be made Chief Justice in May 2028. His tenure as Chief Justice will be of two and a half years. Earlier in February 2017, Justice Syed Abdul Nazeer was appointed from the minority community. Justice Nariman was the last Parsi judge in the Supreme Court to retire in August 2021.

The collegium of CJI NV Ramana, Justice U U Lalit, Justice AM Khanwilkar, Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice L Nageswara Rao recommended the appointment of a record 10 new Chief Justices in different High Courts of the country. This recommendation was made in August 2021.

Retirement of many judges in next few months
Justice Vineet Sharan is going to retire after the next few days. This will be followed by Justice L Nageswara Rao in June, Justice Khanwilkar in July, Chief Justice Ramana in August, Justice Indira Banerjee in September, Justice Hemant Gupta in October and Justice UU Lalit in November.