The Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud on Friday administered the oath of office to two judges of the Superme Court, Ujjal Bhuyan and Venkatnarayana Bhatti after they were cleared for appointment by the Centre on July 12.
The collegium had recommended their names for Supreme Court judgeship on July 5 in light of the retirement of justices KM Joseph, Ajay Rastogi and Ramasubramanian in June.
While Bhuyan was the Chief Justice of Telangana High Court, Bhatti was the Chief Justice of Kerala High Court. In 2011, Bhuyan had been appointed as a judge of the Gauhati High Court. The collegiums noted that Bhuyan served as a judge at the Gauhati High Court and Chief Justice of Telangana High Court.
According to the recommendation, “uring his long tenure as a judge of the High Court, Mr 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.”
S Venkatnarayana Bhatti was appointed as a judge of the High Court of Andhra Pradesh on April 12, 2013. He was then transferred to the High Court of Kerala in March 2019 where he served as the Chief Justice. According to his recommendation, “During his long tenure as a judge of the High Court of Andhra High Pradesh and as a Judge and subsequently as Chief Justice of the High Court of Kerala, Mr Justice Bhatti has acquired considerable experience in various branches of law. He commands a good reputation and possesses integrity and competence.”
The Supreme Court will function at full strength of 32 judges against its sanctioned strength of 34 judges with these appointments. So far in 2023, 11 judges have been appointed to the Supreme Court , all recommended by the CJI Chandrachud led collegium.
