Supreme Court gets 4 new judges
New Delhi, Nov 2 : Justices Hemant Gupta, R Subhash Reddy, M R Shah and Ajay Rastogi were Friday sworn in as judges of the Supreme Court, taking its strength to 28.
The swearing in ceremony started at 10:30 am in court number 1 of the apex court and Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi administered the oath of office to the four judges.
The president had Thursday given his assent to the recommendation of the Supreme Court Collegium for elevating Gupta, Reddy, Shah and Rastogi, who were chief justices of different high courts, as apex court judges.
While Justice Gupta was the chief justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, Justice Reddy was the Gujarat High Court's chief justice.
Justice Shah was the chief justice of the Patna High Court and Justice Rastogi was the chief justice of the Tripura High Court.
The apex court has a sanctioned strength of 31. With the elevation of these four new judges, the strength has risen from 24 to 28.
The Supreme Court collegium headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and comprising its four-senior most judges, had on October 30 recommended to the Centre the names of the four for elevation as judges in the apex court.
Justice Gupta was appointed as a judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court on July 2, 2002, and on February 8, 2016, he was transferred to the Patna High Court where he was appointed as the acting chief justice on October 29, 2016.
He was appointed as the chief justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court on March 18 last year.
Justice Reddy was appointed as a judge of the Andhra Pradesh High Court on December 2, 2002. He was elevated as the chief justice of the Gujarat High Court on February 13, 2016.
Justice Shah was appointed as a judge of the Gujarat High Court on March 7, 2004, and later in August, he was sworn-in as the chief justice of the Patna High Court.
Justice Rastogi was appointed as a judge of the Rajasthan High Court in September 2004 and was elevated as chief justice of the Tripura High Court on March 1 this year.
This year, two apex court judges -- justices Lokur and Kurian Joseph -- are set to retire while Justice Sikri will demit office in March 2019.
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
