President Pranab Mukherjee on Friday appointed Chief Justice of the Madras High Court M.Y. Eqbal, Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court Vikramajit Sen and Justice of the Orissa High Court V. Gopala Gowda as Supreme Court judges.
They are to be sworn in on December 24 by Chief Justice of India Altamas Kabir.
Justice Eqbal (61), who hails from Jharkhand, will have a brief tenure of little over three years; Justice Sen (62), who is from Delhi, just three years and Justice Gowda (61) from Karnataka, a little over four years.
After Justice Cyriac Joseph’s retirement in January, there was no representation for Christians and Justice Sen will fill this vacancy.
The present strength of the judges in the Supreme Court is 25, against the sanctioned strength of 31. With the elevation of the three new judges, it will be 28.
