SC Collegium recommends elevation of five HC judges to apex court

File photo of Supreme Court. Credit: PTI Photo

In the first meeting, the Supreme Court Collegium headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud on Tuesday recommended names of five High Court judges for the elevation to the top court.

Those recommended are: Justice Pankaj Mithal, Chief Justice, Rajasthan High Court (parent high court (PHC) : Allahabad); Justice Sanjay Karol, Chief Justice, Patna High Court (PHC: Himachal Pradesh); Justice P V Sanjay Kumar, Chief Justice, Manipur High Court (PHC: Telangana); Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah, judge, Patna High Court; and, Justice Manoj Misra, judge, Allahabad High Court.

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The six-member Collegium comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, S Abdul Nazeer, K M Joseph, M R Shah and Sanjiv Khanna met here to finalise the names.

The usual five-member Collegium this time consisted of six members with inclusion of Justice Khanna, since none of the other four judges is a future Chief Justice of India.

On Monday, Justice Dipankar Datta was sworn in as a judge of the Supreme Court, taking the number of judges to the top court to 28 against the sanctioned strength of 34 judges.

If the Union government approves the five names, the number of SC would be enhanced 33 judges.