Senior advocate Indu Malhotra will be the first woman lawyer to be elevated as a Supreme Court judge after the Law Ministry cleared her name for the position.
Sources said the official notification will be published soon as Ms. Malhotra is likely to take oath on Friday.
The Supreme Court Collegium consisting of Justices Dipak Misra, J. Chelameshwar and Ranjan Gogoi also cleared 12 names across four High Courts to be appointed as judges.
While five names were cleared for the Gujarat High Court, four have been recommended for the Chhattisgarh High Court, two for the Madras High Court and one for the Bombay High Court.
Ms. Malhotra was one of the two names the SC Collegium had recommended for elevation in January this year.
The other name recommended was that of Justice K.M. Joseph, who had quashed President’s rule in Uttarakhand. Right now he is the Chief Justice of the Uttarakhand High Court.
Justice K.M. Joseph’s recommendation is still under the government’s consideration. However, three months after their names were first recommended by the Collegium, the Law Ministry cleared Ms. Malhotra’s name.
Sources said the Law Ministry forwarded her file to the Intelligence Bureau (IB) for clearance and verification in the second week of April.
Given the delay and uncertainty, Ms. Malhotra had resumed her practice in the Supreme Court.
