President Ram Nath Kovind Appoints Justices Dinesh Maheshwari, Sanjiv Khanna as Supreme Court Judges

Amid questions over the appointment by the legal community, the recommendation by the Supreme Court Collegium was signed off by President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday evening.

Last year in December, the collegium, which comprises the top five judges of the Supreme Court, decided to recommend Chief Justice of Delhi High Court Justice Rajendra Menon and Rajasthan High Court Chief Justice Pradeep Nandrajog but the decision was reversed in January this year, with the collegium naming Justice Maheshwari and Justice Sanjeev Khanna of the Delhi High Court.

Retired Delhi High Court Judge Justice Kailash Gambhir also questioned the decision of the collegium to elevate the Delhi High Court judge and chief justice of Karnataka High Court by superseding three seniors, terming it as an earth-shaking move which will send a wrong signal.

Gambhir said, “In a sense, you are superseding 3 senior judges of the Delhi High Court. There is a supersession of 32 judges if we see the all India seniority.”

Retired judge of Delhi High Court Justice Kailash Gambhir has written to President Ram Nath Kovind, objecting to the decision of collegium which recommended elevation of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dinesh Maheshwari to the Supreme Court pic.twitter.com/zblIFuy2rZ

— ANI (@ANI) January 16, 2019

The decision of the collegium, comprising Justices AK Sikri, SA Bobde, NV Ramana and Arun Mishra, was made public on the apex court’s website on January 11. The top court, which has a sanctioned strength of 31 judges, is presently functioning with 26 judges.