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New Delhi: Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh High Court Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and senior advocate Kalpathi Venkataraman Vishwanathan took oath as judges of the Supreme Court today. Chief Justice of India Justice DY Chandrachud administered the oath of office and secrecy to both the new judges in the presence of all the judges.
The strength of judges in the Supreme Court was reduced to 32 from the sanctioned strength of 34 after the retirement of Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and MR Shah. Now with the arrival of these two judges, the number of judges in the apex court has again become equal to its sanctioned strength.
Earlier, newly appointed Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal informed about the appointment of two new Supreme Court judges through his Twitter account. He wrote, ‘In exercise of the powers conferred by the Constitution of India, the Hon’ble President of India, after consultation with the Hon’ble Chief Justice of India, is pleased to appoint Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and Senior Advocate KV Vishwanathan as Judges of the Supreme Court. Happy to have happened.
KV Viswanathankalpathy Venkataraman Vishwanathan is also the former Additional Solicitor General who is the 10th SC judge to be appointed directly from the Bar. He is only the 10th judge of the Supreme Court to be appointed directly from the Bar. KV Vishwanathan may become the Chief Justice of India on August 11, 2030 after the retirement of Justice JB Pardiwala. If this happens, he will also be the fourth Chief Justice of India to be appointed directly from the Bar after SM Sikri, UU Lalit and PS Narasimha. The Supreme Court Collegium had sent the recommendation of these two names to the Center two days ago, which was approved by the government on Thursday.
Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra was serving as the Chief Justice of the Andhra Pradesh High Court before his appointment to the Supreme Court. He has also served as the Acting Chief Justice of the Chhattisgarh High Court. He is the first Chhattisgarhian to become a judge in the Supreme Court. Justice KM Joseph, Justice Ajay Rastogi and Justice V Ramasubramanian are retiring during the summer vacation. The Supreme Court Bar Association bid farewell to these 3 judges today. Apart from CJI DY Chandrachud, the Supreme Court collegium also includes Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, KM Joseph, Ajay Rastogi and Sanjiv Khanna.
