Five new Supreme Court judges appointed after serious warning to the Centre

New Delhi : After nearly two months of back-and-forth between the executive and the judiciary over the appointment process, the central government finally approved five new Supreme Court judges on Saturday.

Justices Ahsanuddin Amanullah of the Patna High Court, Justice Manoj Misra of the Allahabad High Court, and Chief Justice Pankaj Mithal of the Rajasthan High Court have been elevated to the Supreme Court.

In response to the Supreme Court’s probing questions, the government yesterday promised that the collegium’s recommendations for the promotion of five high court justices would be finalised by Sunday.

The delay in clearing recommendations for the transfer of high court judges was deemed a “very serious issue” by Justices SK Kaul and AS Oka, who warned that further inaction could lead to “very uncomfortable” administrative and judicial actions.

During a hearing on two petitions, Attorney General R. Venkataramani was asked about the progress of the Supreme Court collegium’s recommendations for the top court. He responded that the warrant for appointment of five judges is expected to be issued in two days.

The highest court had said, in reference to the prolonged process of approving the transfers of high court judges, “Don’t force us to take a stand unless you want us to feel terrible… You’ll pressure us to make some extremely tough choices.”

Unlike in the past, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju has spoken out forcefully about the collegium system, which has become a major source of tension between the Supreme Court and the centre. This is because the mechanism of judges appointing judges has sparked an intense debate.