CJI Chandrachud administers oath of two new Supreme Court judges

Supreme Court swearing in

Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud on July 14 administered the oath of office to two judges of the Supreme Court.

The names of Justices Ujjal Bhuyan and Venkatnarayana Bhatti were cleared for appointment by the central government on July 12. The collegium had recommended their names for Supreme Court judgeship on July 5. The recommendations were pursuant to the retirement of Justices KM Joseph, Ajay Rastogi and Ramasubramanian in June.

Bhuyan was the Chief Justice of Telangana High Court while Bhatti was the Chief Justice of Kerala High Court.

Bhuyan was appointed as a judge of the Gauhati High Court in 2011. The collegium recommendation noted that Bhuyan has served as a judge of the Gauhati High Court and as Chief Justice of High Court for the State of Telangana. According to the recommendations "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. "

S Venkatanarayana Bhatti was appointed as a Judge of the High Court of Andhra Pradesh on 12 April 2013. He was transferred to the High Court of Kerala in March 2019 and served as Chief Justice there from June 2023.

According Bhatti's recommendation "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. He commands a good reputation and possesses integrity and competence."

With these appointments, the Supreme Court will function at a strength of 32 judges against its sanctioned strength of 34 judges. The year 2023 has seen 11 judges appointed to the apex court in six months, all of them recommended by the CJI Chandrachud led collegium. The last set of appointments were made in May 2023, wherein Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and KV Viswanathan were administered oath.

The collegium currently comprises CJI DY Chandrachud, along with Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai and Surya Kant.