The number of acting judges in the Supreme Court rose to 28 on Friday, November 2, 2018, as four new judges were sworn in as Supreme Court judges.
The newly appointed judges are Justices Hemant Gupta, R.Subash Reddy, M.R. Shah and Ajay Rastogi.
CJI Ranjan Gogoi administered the oath of office to newly appointed justices in court number 1 of the apex court. The ceremony started at 10:30 AM.
Proceedings started with Justice Hemant Gupta swearing in first, followed by Justice R. Subhash Reddy, Justice M.R. Shah and Justice Ajay Rastogi, who was the last one to be sworn in.
The Apex court collegium had on October 30, 2018, recommended the names of these four judges for elevation to which the president assented on Thursday, November 1, 2018.
Background of the judges
Justice Hemant Gupta - Prior to his elevation to Supreme Court, Justice Gupta was serving in Madhya Pradesh High Court as Chief Justice. He was enrolled as an advocate in July 1980. His areas of practice include Labour law, Company law, Constitutional law and Service law. After serving as an Additional Advocate General for Punjab during 1997 and 1999, he was later in July 2002, appointed as a judge in Punjab and Haryana High Court after which, in February 2016, he was transferred to Patna High Court where he got elevated to the post of acting Chief Justice. He was serving as the Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court since March 2017.
Justice R.Subash Reddy - The former Chief Justice of Gujarat High Court was enrolled as an advocate in 1980. His areas of practice include Civil, Criminal and Constitutional law. Before swearing in as a permanent judge of Andhra Pradesh High Court in 2004, he served there as an Additional Judge since December 2002. In February 2016, he was appointed as the Chief Justice of Gujarat High Court.
Justice MR Shah - Justice Shah was serving as Chief Justice of the Patna High Court since August 2018. He practiced in Gujarat High Court following his enrolment in 1982, his fields of practice include Constitutional law, Central excise and Customs law. Besides serving as Additional Standing Counsel for the Central Government he has also appeared for CBI. He also served as Gujarat High Court Chief Justice before being transferred to Patna High Court.
Justice Ajay Rastogi - He was serving as Chief Justice of Tripura High Court before getting elevated to the apex court. He got enrolled in March 1982. He then practiced in the Rajasthan High Court where he was later appointed as a judge. He was elevated to the post of Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court. He served there for a month before being appointed as the Chief Justice of Tripura High Court.
