Supreme Court Gets Two More Judges: Centre Notifies Appointments Of Justices Ujjal Bhuyan, SV Bhatti

Days after their names were recommended by the Supreme Court Collegium, two high court chief justices were on Wednesday elevated as judges of the Supreme Court. Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal announced the appointments of judges Ujjal Bhuyan and S Venkatanarayana Bhatti on Twitter.

The names of Justice Bhuyan, the chief justice of the Telangana High Court, and Justice Bhatti, his counterpart in Kerala, were recommended for elevation to the top court by the Supreme Court Collegium on July 5. The Supreme Court has a sanctioned strength of 34 judges, including the chief justice, but is functioning with 30. Once the two judges take oath, the working strength of the apex court will go up to 32, leaving two vacancies.

Collegium's considerations

While recommending the names, the collegium considered the seniority of Chief Justices and senior puisne Judges in their respective parent High Courts as well as the overall seniority of the High Court Judges, the merit, performance and integrity of the judges under consideration and the need to ensure diversity and inclusion in the Supreme Court which included representation of high courts which are not represented or are inadequately represented, in the top court, amd appointment of persons from marginalised and backward segments of society, gender diversity as well as representation of minorities.

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 pic.twitter.com/RYhHpEYWHZ
— Arjun Ram Meghwal (@arjunrammeghwal) July 12, 2023

Justice Bhuyan

Justice Bhuyan was appointed as a judge of the Gauhati High Court on October 17, 2011 and is the senior-most judge of his parent high court (Gauhati). He has serving as the chief justice of the Telangana High Court since June 28, 2022. The collegium noted that Justice Bhuyan acquired significant experience in diverse fields of law during his long tenure.

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," the collegium had said while recommending his name.

Justice Bhatti

Justice Bhatti was appointed as a judge of the High Court of Andhra Pradesh on April 12 and is the senior-most in his parent 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.

He was transferred to the Kerala High Court in March 2019 and is serving as the chief justice there since June 1. "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.