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Karnataka, Delhi HC judges sworn in as Supreme court judges
The collegium’s recommendation for their elevation created controversy as Justice Khanna was 33rd in seniority of high court judges on an all-India basis and his elevation would amount to suppression of 32 other judges.
New Delhi: The Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court, Justice Dinesh Maheshwari and Justice Sanjiv Khanna of the Delhi High Court were appointed as judges of the Supreme Court on Friday.
They were administered oath by the Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi. This takes the number of sitting judges of the Supreme Court to 28, falling 3 short of the sanctioned strength of 31. Justice Khanna is likely to be the Chief Justice of India in 2024.
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The collegium’s recommendation for their elevation created controversy as Justice Khanna was 33rd in seniority of high court judges on an all-India basis and his elevation would amount to suppression of 32 other judges.
Justice Khanna is nephew of Justice H.R. Khanna, a former Supreme Court judge who was the sole dissenting voice in the A.D.M. Jabalpur vs Shukla case in 1976, in which he said fundamental rights cannot be curtailed during an Emergency.
Their names had been recommended by a collegium comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices A. K. Sikri, S. A. Bobde, N. V. Ramana and Arun Mishra.
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On Wednesday, the Bar Council of India (BCI) asked the collegium to reconsider its decision of 10 January recommending the names of Justices Khanna and Maheshwari for elevation to the Supreme Court, superseding several other judges of various high courts.
“The recent decision of the Supreme Court collegium taken on 10 January recalling and reviewing the earlier recommendation of 12 December, 2018, is viewed by the bar and the common man as unjust and improper”, the BCI had said.
Delhi HC judge Justice Kailash Gambhir also opposed the elevation and wrote to President Ram Nath Kovind questioning the collegium’s recommendation to elevate Justices Khanna and Maheshwari to the Supreme Court.
The letter called the decision by the collegium to be “appalling and outrageous” as it superseded as many as 32 judges, including several chief justices.
However, earlier names of Chief Justice of the Delhi high court Rajendra Menon and Justice Pradeep Nandrajog of the Delhi high court were recommended for elevation by collegium comprising Chief Justice Gogoi, Justices Madan B. Lokur, A. K. Sikri, S. A. Bobde and N. V. Ramana,
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