Amid SC collegium row, justices Dinesh Maheshwari and Sanjiv Khanna to be sworn in today at 10.30 am

New Delhi: Karnataka High Court Chief Justice Dinesh Maheshwari and Justice Sanjiv Khanna of the Delhi High Court will be sworn in as judges of the Supreme Court on Friday. The government had notified on Wednesday the appointment of justices Maheshwari and Khanna as judges of the apex court. Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi will administer the oath of office to the two judges on Friday, an official circular said. [caption id=“attachment_5542981” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of the Supreme Court. AP[/caption] “The swearing-in-ceremony of Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and Sanjiv Khanna as judges of the Supreme Court will be held on 18 January, 2019 at 10.30 am in the Chief Justice’s court,” the circular said. The five-member Supreme Court Collegium, comprising CJI Gogoi and justices AK Sikri, SA Bobde, NV Ramana and Arun Mishra, on 10 January recommended names of justices Maheshwari and Khanna for elevation as apex court judges. Names of chief justices of Rajasthan High Court and Delhi High Court — justices Pradeep Nandrajog and Rajendra Menon — were considered by the Collegium on 12 December, 2018 for elevation but the deliberation remained inconclusive and one member of the Collegium, Justice MB Lokur, retired on 30 December, 2018. His place in the Collegium was taken by Justice Arun Mishra. The new Collegium on 10 January ignored their prospect of elevation as apex court judges. The Bar Council of India (BCI) on Wednesday protested the Supreme Court Collegium’s recommendation to elevate Justice Sanjeev Khanna by superseding several other judges and termed the decision as “whimsical and arbitrary”. Before the BCI made a statement protesting the decision of the collegium, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul of the Supreme Court also wrote a note to the CJI and other members of the collegium for ignoring the seniority of Chief Justices of the High Courts of Rajasthan and Delhi, Pradeep Nandrajog and Rajendra Menon, respectively. Sources said Justice Kaul was of the view that a wrong signal would go out if the two chief justices, who are up in the seniority list than Justice Khanna, would be left out for elevation as apex court judges.