Keywords: Supreme Court, Collegium, President of India,
Chief Justice of India In a recent development in the Supreme Court of India, Chief Justice DY Chandrachud on 14 July administered the oath of office to the two judges, namely Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice S Venkatanarayana Bhatti.
The recent appointment of the justices took the court’s working strength to 32, two less than the possible strength of 34.
The Central Government on July 12 cleared the appointment of the two judges, mentioning which the Minister of State for Law and Justice, Arjun Ram Meghwal Tweeted, “In exercise of the powers conferred by the Constitution of India, the Hon’ble President, after consultation with the Hon’ble Chief Justice of India, is pleased to appoint the following 02 Chief Justices of High Courts as Judges of the Supreme Court of India – Justice Ujjal Bhuyan; Justice SV Bhatti”.
The Supreme Court Collegium on 05 July recommended their elevation to the top court. Justice Bhuyan (previously the Chief Justice of Telangana High Court) will serve in the Supreme Court till August 2, 2029, while Justice Bhatt will serve in the Top Court till May 6, 2027. After being appointed as the judge of Gauhati High Court on 17 October 2011, Justice Bhuyan was transferred to the High Court of Telangana as Chief Justice on 28 June 2022, from where he was called on to Supreme Court.
Justice S V Bhatt was appointed as a judge of the Andhra Pradesh High Court on 12 April 2023, from where he was transferred to the High Court of Kerala on March 2023 and served as its Chief Justice since 01 Jun 2023, before being called into the Supreme Court.
Written by Kartik Sharma, a student of National Law University, Shimla (first semester), an intern under Legal Vidhiya
