Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and Sanjiv Khanna take oath as Supreme Court judges

CJI Ranjan Gogoi administers oath of office to justices Dinesh Maheshwari and Sanjiv Khanna as Supreme Court judges.

NEW DELHI: Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and Sanjiv Khanna sworn in as judges of the Supreme Court on Friday morning. They were administered the oath by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi. 

The duo was appointed as judges of the top court by President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday. With this, the total strength of the top court judges is up to 28. The sanctioned strength of the Supreme Court judges is 31.

Maheshwari was the Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court while Khanna, judge at Delhi High Court. The appointment comes amid questions over the elevation by the legal fraternity.

Last week, the Supreme Court Collegium recommended the names of the two justices for elevation as judges of the top court. The five-member Collegium, headed by CJI Gogoi and  comprising of Justices A K Sikri, S A Bobde, N V Ramana and Arun Mishra, took the decision in its meeting on January 10.

The decision put on the website noted the issue of elevation of judges was deliberated on December 12, 2018, when Justice M B Lokur was also a member of the Collegium.

Justice Mishra became a member of the Collegium after Justice Lokur retired on December 30.