Chief Justice of Delhi HC assumes office of SC judge

New Delhi, Apr 9 (UNI) Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court Justice M K Sarma today took over as a judge of the Supreme Court.

He was administered the oath of office by Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan this morning.

With the elevation of Justice Sarma, who belongs to Assam, the total strength of the Supreme Court judges has gone up to 25.

Justice H K Sema, who is also from Assam, is going to retire as a Supreme Court judge on June 1 this year.

The sanctioned strength of the Supreme Court judges, at present, is 26. However, the government has already decided to raise the strength of the Supreme Court to 31 by sanctioning five more posts of its judges.

The Cabinet has already cleared the proposal for raising the number of the apex court judges.

The highest court of the land is still without a woman judge after the retirement of Justice Ruma Pal in November 2006.

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