Centre clears all 9 names, including 3 women, for elevation as Supreme Court judges

New Delhi, Aug 26: The Centre is learnt to have approved all nine names recommended by the Supreme Court Collegium for appointments as apex court judges, that includes three women judges.

The Collegium, led by Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana had recommended the names of Chief Justice AS Oka, Chief Justice Vikram Nath of the Gujarat High Court, J K Maheshwari (Sikkim), Justice CT Ravikumar of the Kerala High Court, Justice MM Sundresh of the Madras High Court, Justice Bela M Trivedi of the Gujarat High Court and senior Advocate PS Narasimha.

In a first, the collegium has sent three names of woman judges, including Justice B V Nagarathna from the Karnataka High Court who could become the first woman CJI.

Besides Justice Nagarathna , two other women judges picked for the appointment are Justice Hima Kohli, the Chief Justice of Telangana High Court, and Justice Bela Trivedi, a Gujarat High Court judge.

The current strength of the Supreme Court is 24. With the appointment of 9 judges the SC will fill all current vacancies taking the working strength to 33.

One additional vacancy would arise on Wednesday, when Justice Navin Sinha retires.

With the retirement of Justice R F Nariman on August 12, the strength of judges in the top court had come down to 25 as against the sanctioned strength of 34, including the CJI. Significantly, no appointment has been made after the superannuation of the then CJI Ranjan Gogoi on March 19, 2019.

This is also probably the first time that nine names have been recommended for elevation for the top post has been approved by the government.