Two HC CJs elevated to Supreme Court; all vacancies filled in apex court
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New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court will now function with its maximum strength of 34 judges, with two high court chief justices being elevated to the top court on Friday.
Law Minister Kiren Rijiju took to Twitter to announce the fresh appointments to the top court and extended his best wishes to them.
Justice Rajesh Bindal, Chief Justice, Allahabad HC and Justice Aravind Kumar, Chief Justice, Gujarat HC are likely to take oath as judges of the Supreme Court in the next two days, sources aware of the process of appointing judges to the higher judiciary said.
Once they take oath, the top court will achieve its full strength of 34 judges, including the Chief Justice of India.
Their names were recommended by the Supreme Court Collegium on January 31.
The Department of Justice in the Union law ministry issued separate notifications announcing their appointments.
Last week, five judges were appointed to the Supreme Court.
While all six members of the Collegium, led by CJI DY Chandrachud, were unanimous in recommending the name of Justice Bindal, Justice K M Joseph had reservation on the name of Justice Kumar, according to a resolution uploaded on the apex court website.
On Saturday last, Justice Pankaj Mithal, Chief Justice, Rajasthan High Court; Justice Sanjay Karol, Chief Justice, Patna High Court; Justice P V Sanjay Kumar, Chief Justice, Manipur High Court; Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah, Judge, Patna High Court; and Justice Manoj Misra, Judge, Allahabad High Court , were elevated to the apex court.
Between May and July this year, six judges of the apex court will demit office upon attaining the age of 65 years.
The retirement age of high court judges is 62.
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K’taka HC judge whose controversial remarks triggered controversy expresses regret before open court
Bengaluru: Karnataka High Court judge, Justice V Srishananda, on Saturday expressed regret in open court after facing backlash over his controversial remarks in his recent court hearings, reported Bar and Bench.
Two purported video clips from Justice V Srishananda’s court hearing that show him making inappropriate comments went viral across social media platforms.
On Saturday, Justice Srishananda invited members of the Advocates Association, Bengaluru, and senior lawyers to his courtroom at 2:30 PM, where he read out a note expressing regret for inappropriate comments.
Quoting Advocates Association President Vivek Subba Reddy, Bar and Bench wrote, “He expressed regret for the comments and clarified that it was not his intention to offend any community or members of the Bar. He also requested the association to relay this message to all members of the Bar.”
Reddy further stated, “We also advised him to encourage young lawyers in the courtroom and refrain from making any irrelevant remarks during hearings.”
Another senior lawyer present during the session confirmed to the legal news portal that Justice Srishananda also addressed comments directed at a woman lawyer, who was seen in one of the videos being reprimanded by the judge. The judge Justice Srishananda clarified that his remarks were not intended to target her (woman lawyer) specifically, but rather pertained to the appellant she was representing. “He explained that his comment was meant to imply that the appellant seemed to know a lot about the other party,” said the lawyer.
In addition, Justice Srishananda assured those present that he would avoid making such comments in the future.
The controversy came to light on September 19, when a video clip from an August 28 Court hearing surfaced on social media, showing Justice Srishananda referring to a Muslim-majority sub-locality in Bengaluru’s Goripalya as "Pakistan." Hours later, another video from the same courtroom emerged, in which the judge was seen making a gender-insensitive remark.
Following outrage over the viral videos, a Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, along with Justices Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, Surya Kant, and Hrishikesh Roy, on September 20 took a suo motu cognizance and sought a report from the Karnataka High Court Registrar General in connection with the viral video.
