P.V.Anandpadmanabhan

Justice Prafulla Chandra Pant, Justice R. Banumathi, Justice Abhay Manohar Sapre and senior advocate Uday Umesh Lalit  were administered the oath of the office by Chief Justice R.M. Lodha, hereby making them  the judges of the Supreme Court.

With this appointment the apex court now has strength of 30 judges as compared to 26 earlier. The apex court has a sanctioned strength of 31 judges. 

Before being elevated to the apex court, Justice Prafulla Chandra Pant was the chief justice of Meghalaya High Court, Justice R. Banumathi was the chief justice of Jharkhand High Court, Justice Abhay Manohar Sapre was the chief justice of Gauhati High Court, Senior Advocate Uday Umesh Lalit was the special public prosecutor leading CBI cases in the 2G scam before the Special CBI court.

Earlier, the apex court’s bar had recommended  the name of former Solicitor General, Gopal Subramanian, for the appointment as judge of the SC, as he withdrew his consent to be the Judge of the apex court after the government returned his recommendations.

Uday Umesh Lalit follows the precedent where Justice Santosh Hegde and Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman who were made judges of the apex court directly from the bar.