Supreme Court gets two new judges

Telangana Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan (left) and Kerala Chief Justice S. Venkatanarayana Bhatti. Photos: tshc.gov.in, The Hindu

The President on July 12 appointed Telangana Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Kerala Chief Justice S. Venkatanarayana Bhatti as Supreme Court judges. The appointments came within a week of the Supreme Court Collegium, led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, recommending their names to the government.

The two new appointments increase the judicial strength of the apex court to 33, leaving only one vacancy. Justice Bhuyan, appointed as a judge of the Gauhati High Court on October 17, 2011, had been serving as the Chief Justice of Telangana since June 28 last year.

“During his long tenure as a judge of the High Court, 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. His judgments cover a wide range of issues pertaining to law and justice. Justice Bhuyan is a judge with a good reputation for integrity and competence,” the Collegium resolution had read.

Justice Bhatti was appointed as a judge of the Andhra Pradesh High Court on April 12, 2013. The Collegium had explained its choice of Justice Bhatti, saying the High Court of Andhra Pradesh did not have any representation on the Bench of the Supreme Court since August 2022.

Justice Bhatti was transferred to the High Court of Kerala in March 2019. He had been serving as Chief Justice there since June 1, 2023.

The Collegium had noted that Justice Bhatti’s judgments dealt with a myriad range of issues from multiple branches of law, and “stand testimony to his legal acumen and competence”.