Justice Prasnna B Varale sworn in as Supreme Court judge

Justice PB Varale appointed as judge of SC

Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud on January 25 administered oath to Justice Prasanna B Varale.

Varale's name was cleared for appointment by the Union government on January 24. The collegium had recommended Varale's name for the Supreme Court judgeship on January 19. The recommendations were pursuant to the retirement of Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul on December 25, 2023.

At the time of his appointment to the apex court, Varale was serving as the Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court. Varale's collegium recommendation said: "Justice Prasanna B Varale has acquired considerable experience as a judge of the High Court of Bombay and as the chief justice of the High Court of Karnataka for more than a year. The judgments authored by him deal with variety of issues in every field of law. He is a competent judge with unimpeachable conduct and integrity and has throughout maintained high standard of professional ethics."

The collegium recommendation went on to add: "While recommending his name, the Collegium has taken into consideration the fact that among the high court judges, he is the senior-most judge belonging to a Scheduled Caste, and the only chief justice belonging to a Scheduled Caste among the chief justices of high courts across the country."

Ever since Chandrachud was appointed the CJI, a total of 16 judges have been appointed to the apex court, 14 of them were appointed in 2023.  The last set of appointments were made in November 2023, which include the appointments of Justices Satish Chandra Sharma, Augustine George Masih, and Sandeep Mehta.

The collegium currently comprises CJI DY Chandrachud along with Justices  Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, Surya Kant and Aniruddha Bose.