Indu Malhotra becomes the seventh woman judge of the SC since Independence. (Source: Lawctopus.com)Senior advocate Indu Malhotra was sworn in as judge of the Supreme Court on Friday. Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra administered the oath of office to her. Her appointment received the Presidential warrant, or requisite clearance to take oath, Wednesday. She is the first woman to be elevated to the post of Supreme Court judge directly from the Bar. Malhotra is the second woman judge in the current bench strength of the apex court.
The Supreme Court collegium, comprising CJI Dipak Misra and Justices J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B Lokur and Kurian Joseph, in a unanimous decision, had cleared the names of Malhotra as well as Uttarakhand High Court Chief Justice KM Joseph. Malhotra is the seventh woman judge of the SC since Independence.
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Malhotra adds to the existing strength of 24 judges in the top court.
Justice Indu Malhotra gets down to work on day 1. Sharing bench with Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and Justice D Y Chandrachud in Court no 1 @IndianExpress
— Ananthakrishnan G (@axidentaljourno) April 27, 2018
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Born into a family of lawyers, Malhotra joined the profession in 1983. She was appointed as a Senior Advocate in 2007. She was the second woman after Leila Seth to be elevated by the Supreme Court to the designation of a Senior Advocate. She specialises in arbitration law.
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The government, meanwhile, returned for reconsideration the Collegium’s recommendation to elevate Uttarakhand Chief Justice K M Joseph to the Supreme Court. In a letter to the CJI, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad listed reasons why the appointment “at this stage does not appear to be appropriate”. It is unclear if and when the CJI will call a meeting of the collegium to discuss the matter.
