Nine judges are scheduled to be sworn in at the Supreme Court on Tuesday morning, the first time so many judges will take oath of office together at the apex court.

The event will be held at the auditorium of the Supreme Court’s Additional Building Complex, not the Chief Justice of India’s court as is the tradition, because the Covid restrictions will allow a limited gathering.

According to an official note issued on Monday evening, Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana will administer the oath of office to the nine judge designates at 10.30am.

The judge designates are Justices Abhay Shreeniwas Oka, Vikram Nath, Jitendra Kumar Maheshwari, Hima Kohli, Venkataramiah Nagarathna, Chudalayil Thevan Ravikumar, M.M. Sundresh and Bela Madhurya Trivedi, and senior advocate Pamidighantam S. Narsimha.

The oath-taking ceremony is usually a solemn event held in the CJI’s court hall that is attended by the spouses, close relatives and friends of the judge designates, among others.

However, this time CJI Ramana has directed that the event be held in the auditorium with a limited gathering.

“This is done keeping in view the need for strict adherence to Covid norms,” a court spokesperson said.

To avoid overcrowding, the Supreme Court registry has decided that only accredited journalists will be permitted entry into the auditorium to cover the event. Around 50 correspondents cover the Supreme Court but only a dozen have accreditation.

The oath-taking ceremony will be telecast live on DD News and DD India. Live webcast will be available on the home page of the official web portal of the Supreme Court —https://sci.nic.in. The webcast can also be accessed at https://webcast.gov.in/scindia.