Centre clears appointment of 2 HC Chief Justices as SC judges

NEW DELHI: The President has appointed Telangana HC's Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Kerala HC's Chief Justice S. Venkatanarayana Bhatti as judges of the Supreme Court, Union Law and Justice Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal announced on Wednesday.

“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,” he tweeted.

The names were cleared by the Centre within a period of one week after the Supreme Court Collegium, headed by CJI D.Y. Chandrachud, on July 5 recommended appointments of Chief Justice Bhuyan and his Kerala counterpart, Chief Justice Bhatti as apex court judges.

The apex court, which has a sanctioned strength of 34 judges, is presently functioning with a strength of 30 judges after the retirement of Justice Krishna Murari on July 8 and three other judges during the summer break.

Justice Bhuyan was appointed as a judge of the Gauhati High Court in 2011. He is the senior-most judge of his parent High Court and is presently serving as Chief Justice of the Telangana High Court since June 28, 2022. Justice Bhatti was appointed as a Judge of the Andhra Pradesh High Court in 2013 and is the senior most in his parent High Court.

“The High Court of Andhra Pradesh does not have any representation on the Bench of the Supreme Court since August 2022,” said SC Collegium while recommending his name.

In its statement, the Collegium said that it took factors like seniority, merit, performance,integrity, gender diversity, representation of minorities and backward sections of society, etc. while making recommendations for appointment to the top court.