NEW DELHI / AGARTALA, Feb 17 (TIWN): Tripura’s former Chief Justice Dipak Gupta on Friday has taken oath as the Justice of SC.

With the swearing in of Justice Sanjay Kishnan Kaul, Justice Naveen Sinha, Justice Mohan M. Shantanagouder, Justice Dipak Gupta and Justice S. Abdul Nazeer, the apex court now falls short by only three judges against it's sanctioned strength of 31.

At the time of their elevation as judges of the apex court, Justice Kaul was the Chief Justice of Madras High Court; Justice Sinha was the Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court; Justice Shantanagouder was the Chief Justice of Kerala High Court; Justice Gupta was the Chief Justice of Tripura and last at Chhattisgarh High Court and Justice Nazeer was a judge in the Karnataka High Court. 

However, many  hearings by Gupta were given at Tripura High Court against the state govt. during his tenure as the Chief Justice of Tripura. All the cases are now pending at SC, which was appealed by Tripura Govt challenging Gupta’s verdict. With his appointment as the Justice of SC, thus the ruling govt is under heavy pressure, said a source.