Centre Notifies Appointment of Two New Supreme Court Judges

Centre Notifies Appointment of Two New Supreme Court Judges

The Central Government has appointed Justice Ujjal Bhuyan, Chief Justice of High Court of Telangana and Justice S Venkatamaryana Bhatti, Chief Justice of High Court of Kerala, as Supreme Court judges.

On 5 July, the Apex Court collegium had recommended the elevation of Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice S Venkatanarayana Bhatti as judges to the Apex Court.

Their appointments have been confirmed by President Droupadi Murmu, Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal as per a tweet posed on 12 July.

“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,” Meghwal tweeted.

Justice Bhuyan born on 2 August, 1964, was appointed as a judge of the Gauhati High Court on 17 October, 2011 and is the senior-most judge of Gauhati High Court. He is serving as the Chief Justice of the Telangana High Court since 28 June, 2022.

The collegium while recommending his name said, “During his long tenure as a judge of the High Court Mr Justice Bhuyan has acquired significant experience in diverse fields of law. He has acquired specialisation and domain knowledge in the law of taxation. He has also served as a judge of the Bombay High Court dealing with a wide spectrum of cases including taxation. His judgments cover wide ranging issues pertaining to law and justice. Mr. Justice Ujjal Bhuyan is a judge with a good reputation for integrity and competence.”

Justice Bhatti, born on 6 May, 1962, was appointed as a judge of the High Court of Andhra Pradesh on 12 April and is the senior-most at the High Court.

The collegium noted that the High Court of Andhra Pradesh does not have any representation on the bench of the Supreme Court since August 2022.

Justice Bhatti was transferred to the Kerala High Court in March 2019 and served as the Chief Justice since 1 June.

“During his long tenure as a judge of the High Court of Andhra High Pradesh and as a Judge and subsequently as Chief Justice of the High Court of Kerala, Mr Justice Bhatti has acquired considerable experience in various branches of law. The judgments authored by him dealing with issues in various branches of law stand testimony to his legal acumen and competence. Apart from according representation to the State of Andhra Pradesh, the appointment of Mr Justice Bhatti will provide a value addition in terms of his acquired knowledge and experience. He commands a good reputation and possesses integrity and competence,” the Collegium had said while recommending his name.

With the appointment of Justices Bhuyan and Bhatti, the strength of Supreme Court has increased to 32, as against the sanctioned strength of 34.

This is, notably, the 11th appointment to the top court made this year. The previous rounds of appointments were approved in May, when Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and KV Viswanathan were elevated to the Supreme Court.