The Centre has approved the elevation of Justices B.R. Gavai, Surya Kant, Aniruddha Bose and A.S. Bopanna as judges to the Supreme Court.
With their elevation, the apex court will now function with its full sanctioned strength of 31 judges.
On May 8, 2019, the SC collegium recommended the elevation of Justice Gavai from Bombay High Court (Nagpur Bench) and Surya Kant, who is the Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh High Court.
With the appointment of Justice Gavai, who stands at Sl.No.8 in the combined seniority list of all HC judges, the SC has got a judge from the Scheduled Caste community after nine years.
Justice Gavai recently came into the limelight when he issued a press statement denying any suspicious circumstances surrounding Judge Loya’s death.
Justice Surya Kant, who hails from Punjab and Haryana High Court, stands at Sl.No.2 in the combined seniority list of all India High Court judges, and was appointed Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh High Court on October 5, 2018.
Justices Bose is currently Chief Justice of the Jharkhand High Court. He stands at Sl no. 12 in the combined seniority list. Justice Bopanna, whose seniority is number 36, is currently Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court and hails from Karnataka High Court.
On May 8 itself, the Collegium had reiterated the proposals for the elevation of Justice Bose and Justice Bopanna. This was done on the very next day of the Centre returning the earlier proposal forwarded by the Collegium on April 12, 2019, for their elevation.
