Bengal-born Justice Dipankar Datta was sworn in as a judge of the Supreme Court on Monday, December 12 after nearly 14 years as a judge of the Calcutta High Court and last two-and-a-half years as Chief Justice of Bombay High Court. Present-Chief Justice of the Supreme Court D.Y. Chandrachud administered oath to Justice Dipankar Datta in the Court number 1 in presence of 25 of the 27 Supreme Court judges and advocates.
With the swearing-in of Justice Datta, the total number of judges in the top court has reached 28, with six vacancies, against the sanctioned strength of 34, including the Chief Justice of India. Justice Datta is the 259th person to take oath as a Judge of the Supreme Court since its establishment on January 26, 1950.
Justice Datta’s name was recommended by the Supreme Court Collegium headed by then Chief Justice of India U.U. Lalit in September last year. Notably, on December 8 of the current year, a bench of Justice Sanjay Kaul, Justice A.S. Oka and Justice Vikram Nath slammed the Centre over its continued obduracy in clearing names of judges for various high courts.