New judges sworn in at Delhi High Court, total strength now 40

Six new judges on Monday took oath of office, taking the strength of the Delhi High Court to 40.

The six new judges were administered the oath of office by Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya at a ceremony held in the high court premises.

The six judges are Justices V Kameswar Rao, Nitin Wasudeo Sambre, Vivek Chaudhary, Anil Kshetrapal, Arun Kumar Monga and Om Prakash Shukla.

With their swearing-in, the high court's strength has gone up to 40. The sanctioned strength of the high court is 60.

While Justice Chaudhary took oath in Hindi, the other five judges took oath in English.

Justice Sambre earlier served in the Bombay High Court, while Justices Chaudhary and Shukla were in the Allahabad High Court.

Justice Kshetarpal was in the Punjab and Haryana High Court and Justice Monga was in the Rajasthan High Court. Justice Rao has been repatriated to Delhi from the Karnataka High Court.

The Delhi High Court's senior-most judge, Justice Vibhu Bakhru was bid farewell on July 16 on his elevation as the Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court.

The reshuffling has also result in reconstitution of the high court's three-member collegium.

Till now the high court collegium comprised Chief Justice Upadhyaya, Justice Bakhru and Justice Prathiba M Singh. However, after the swearing-in ceremony, the collegium will now consist of Chief Justice Upadhyaya and Justices Rao and Sambre as they are senior to Justice Singh.

The Central government on July 14 notified the transfer of these six judges from their respective high courts to the Delhi High Court based on the recommendations made by the Supreme Court collegium.