The Supreme Court collegium of judges, headed by Chief Justice of India Altamas Kabir, has recommended elevation of Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court Justice Arjan Kumar Sikri and Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court Justice Sharad Bobde as Supreme Court judges.
According to sources in the Union Law Ministry, the entire process of appointment is expected to take about a fortnight.
Justice Sikri (59), who hails from Delhi, was appointed as a judge of the Delhi High Court in July 1999. He became the Acting Chief Justice of the court in October 2011 and elevated as the Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court in September 2012. He will have a tenure of six years in the Supreme Court.
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Justice Bobde (57), who hails from Maharashtra, started his legal practice at the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court. He was designated as senior advocate in 1998. He was appointed as an additional judge of the High Court in March 2000. He was appointed as the Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court in October 2012. He will have tenure of about eight years. He will become the Chief Justice of India in November 2019 after Justice Ranjan Gogoi and will have about 18 month tenure before his retirement in April 2021.
Once the two judges are appointed, the Supreme Court will have 30 judges, against the sanctioned strength of 31.