Four new Supreme Court judges take oath

New Delhi, Nov 2 (IANS) Justice Hemant Gupta, Justice R. Subhash Reddy, Justice Mukesh Kumar Rasikbhai Shah and Justice Ajay Rastogi were on Friday sworn in as judges of the Supreme Court.

They were administered the oath by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi.

Justice Hemant Gupta was seated in Court No. 1 on the bench headed by the Chief Justice and also having Justice K.M. Joseph.

Justice R. Subhash Reddy was seated on the bench in Court No. 2 headed by Justice Madan B. Lokur also having Justice A.M. Khanwilkar.

Justice Justice Mukesh Kumar Rasikbhai Shah was in Court No. 3 headed by Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice Ajay Rastogi was seated in Court No. 4 headed by Justice A.K. Sikri.

With this, the strength of the top court judges has gone up to 28 -- only three short of the sanctioned strength of 31.

Justice Gupta, Justice Reddy, Justice Shah and Justice Rastogi were the Chief Justices of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Patna and Tripura high courts, respectively, before their elevation to the apex court.

The Supreme Court collegium had recommended their elevation on October 29 and it was officially made public on October 30.

The government cleared the recommendation for their elevation to top court within two days.

The pace with which the government acted on the recommendation of the top court collegiums on the elevation of Justice Hemant Gupta, Justice R. Subhash Reddy, Justice Mukesh Kumar Rasikbhai Shah and Justice Ajay Rastogi has left the Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi in "awe".

During an informal interaction with media persons on Friday, CJI Gogoi said they sent their recommendation for the elevation of Justice Gupta, Justice Reddy, Justice Shah and Justice Rastogi at 10.00 a.m on Wednesday (October 31).

"'I was awed' when at 4.00 p.m I was told that their medical examination has been done."

On the Gujarat High Court controversy resulting in protest by the lawyers on the transfer of Justice Akil A. Kureshi and not making him the acting Chief Justice after the elevation of Justice R. Subhash Reddy to the Supreme Court, the CJI said it was because of an error which has now been rectified.