New Delhi, September 23: The strength of the Supreme Court of India has rose to 34 as four new judges - Justices V Ramasubramanian, Krishna Murari, S Ravindra Bhat and Hrishikesh Roy - were sworn-in on Monday. They were administered the oath to office by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi. With their induction, the strength of the apex court has increased to its highest mark in the course of history. Ayodhya Case: Supreme Court to Hear the Title Dispute for An Hour More From Next Week.

The Collegium of the Supreme Court, comprising of the five top judges of the top court including CJI, had recommended the appointment of Justices Ramasubramanian, Murari, Bhat and Roy on August 28. The Union Law Ministry approved the recommendations made by the Collegium on September 18, thereby clearing the path for their induction into the apex court.

Update by ANI:

In view of the increased judges' strength, the Supreme Court has announced that two additional courtrooms -  court nos. 16 and 17 - will be set-up in its premises.

Notably, successive CJIs, including the incumbent Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, have marked their concern over the unprecedented rise in pending cases before the apex court. The number of such cases has increased to over 60,000, and has often been referred to by the top court while asking the central government to expedite the process of judicial appointments.

To tackle the challenge, the Centre had recently passed the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Bill, 2019. The law has allowed the government to increase the maximum strength of the apex court from 30 to 33. The count excludes the CJI. After adding the Chief Justice to the tally, the permissible maximum strength is 34.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 23, 2019 11:39 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).