Chief Justice Gogoi "In Awe" Of How Swiftly 4 New Judges Were Appointed

Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi has said that clearing pendency in the court is a priority for him.

As the Supreme Court got four new judges today, Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said he was impressed with how quickly the appointments were made. "The recommendation (by the collegium) was sent at 11 am on Wednesday to the Law Ministry.  I heard that the medical examination of the four judges was conducted on the same evening itself. I was in awe," Chief Justice Gogoi said.

Justices Hemant Gupta, R Subhash Reddy, MR Shah and Ajay Rastogi were sworn in today as judges of the Supreme Court, taking its strength to 28.

The swearing-in ceremony started at 10:30 am in court number 1 of the Supreme Court and Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi administered the oath of office to the four judges.

The president had on Thursday given his assent to the recommendation of the Supreme Court collegium for elevating Justices Gupta, Reddy, Shah and Rastogi, who were chief justices of different high courts.

After the swearing-in, Chief Justice Gogoi and Justice SA Bobde came to the press lounge and interacted with journalists. It was during the interaction that the Chief Justice expressed his admiration for the swift manner in which the appointments were done.

The Chief Justice also said that 14 benches of two judges each will sit on Mondays and Fridays for faster disposal of cases to curb the pendency.

Soon after taking over as chief justice, Ranjan Gogoi had said clearing the pendency in the Supreme Court was an important priority for him and that he "had a plan" on how to do it. He took two key measures for this purpose. First, he did away with urgent mentions in the Supreme Court, except in emergency situations such as cases involving hanging or demolitions. Second, he urged judges not to take leave unless it is really urgent and asked them not to skip working days to attend seminars.

Given the large number of cases the Supreme Court is dealing with, the appointment of four new judges will also help clear the backlog.

The Chief Justice made another important announcement during his interaction with the media. He said that the Supreme Court will now translate all its judgments into Hindi initially and later to other regional languages, subject to feasibility.

Also Supreme Court judgements, which are voluminous, will be made simple. The crux of the judgement in one or two pages will be made available for the common man to understand.

(With inputs from PTI)