Collegium recommends senior counsel L Nageswara Rao + 3 others for Supreme Court judgeship

Senior Advocate L Nageswara Rao has been recommended by the Supreme Court Collegium for appointment as judge of the Supreme Court of India, reports Deccan Chronicle..Besides Rao, the Chief Justices of three High Courts – Justice DY Chandruchud of Allahabad High Court, Justice Ashok Bhushan of Kerala High Court and Justice AM Khanwilkar of Madhya Pradesh High court have also been recommended by the Collegium..The recommendations of the Collegium have been sent to the Law Ministry for approval..If the four appointments go through, the strength of the Supreme Court will go up to 29. Currently it stands at 25 with six vacancies..Further, Rao will also join a select group of those who have been directly elevated to the Supreme Court from the Bar. He will be the seventh such appointment in the history of the Supreme Court, and the third to be currently in the apex court – the other two being Justice Rohinton Nariman and Justice UU Lalit..Rao was designated Senior Advocate in 2000. He has served as Additional Solicitor General 3 times. His latest tenure as ASG was from May 2014 to December 2014, after which he resigned to return to private practice..The last appointment to the Supreme Court was in February, 2015 when Justice Amitava Roy assumed charge. Subsequently, the appointments were put on hold after the Centre passed the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act. Following the NJAC’s challenge, all judicial appointments were put on hold till the Act was struck down in October last year..After the retirement of Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai, Justice R Banumathi is the sole woman judge in Supreme court.