The first eight judges of the Supreme Court

Today, the Supreme Court hosts 34 judges. These judges have a vast library of precedents to rely on and time-honed processes to ensure smooth functioning. But during its formative years, the Court had just eight judges. Six judges were present in the Court’s inaugural session on 28 January 1950: Chief Justice Harilal Kania, and Justices S. Fazl Ali, Patanjali Shastri, Mehr Chand Mahajan, B.K. Mukherjea, and S.R. Das. Justice N.C. Aiyar was appointed in September 1950. A year later, Justice Vivian Bose came on board to complete the original roster of eight. As part of SCO’s special series commemorating 75 years of the Supreme Court, associate editor R. Sai Spandana, has written a potted history of the first eight judges of the top court. Read the essay now on scobserver.in.