Delhi: 9 new High Court justices take oath

New Delhi: Nine new Delhi High Court judges on Wednesday took oath of office, taking the total strength of the court to 44.

Acting Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi administered the oath of office to Justices Tara Vitasta Ganju, Mini Pushkarna, Vikas Mahajan, Tushar Rao Gedela, Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora, Sachin Datta, Amit Mahajan, Gaurang Kanth and Saurabh Banerjee.

The central government had notified the appointment of the newly sworn-in judges -- who were practising lawyers-- on May 13.

The swearing-in ceremony took place in the court of the Chief Justice in the presence of other high court judges, lawyers and family members of the newly sworn-in judges.

The Supreme Court collegium had approved the proposal for elevation of Justices Ganju and Pushkarna as judges of the high court in August 2020.

The apex court collegium had recommended the names of the other judges earlier this month.

The new appointments take the total number of judges in the high court to 44, including 12 women judges. The sanctioned strength of the high court is 60.

Recently, the Supreme Court Collegium had approved the proposal for the appointment of several lawyers as judges of the Delhi High Court.

The Collegium headed by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana took the decision pursuant to a meeting of the Collegium held on May 4.

The Supreme Court Collegium has recommended Justice Satish Chandra Sharma, Chief Justice of the Telangana High Court, as the new Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court.

Collegium also recommended the elevation of Justice Vipin Sanghi, Acting Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, as the Chief Justice of Uttarakhand High Court.

After the retirement of Justice DN Patel as the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, the post fell vacant.

The Collegium further recommended the elevation of Justice AA Sayed, SS Shinde, Rashmin M Chhaya and Ujjal Bhuyan as Chief Justices of Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gauhati and Telangana High Courts respectively.

(with inputs from agencies)