New Delhi: Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and senior advocate KV Viswanathan were sworn in as Supreme Court judges today (May 19). The oath was administered by Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chadrachud in the newly built auditorium of the Supreme Court. They were appointed as Supreme Court judges by the Central government yesterday.
The warrant of appointment of Justice Mishra and Viswanathan as judges of the apex court was issued from the office of President Droupadi Murmu on Thursday.
New Union Law Minister announce appointment of Judges
Union Law Minister Arjun Meghwal took to Twitter to announce the appointment of Mishra and Viswanathan. Their names were recommended to the Centre by the Supreme Court Collegium, headed by CJI Chandrachud.
Justice Mishra was the Chief Justice of the Andhra Pradesh High Court. Notably, Viswanathan, upon the retirement of Justice JB Pardiwala on August 11, 2030, will become the Chief Justice of India and remain in the post till May 25, 2031.
SC to its full strength of 34 judges
The apex court regains its full strength of 34 judges, including the CJI, for a brief period as three judges -- Justice K M Joseph, Justice Ajay Rastogi and Justice V Ramasubramanian -- are demitting office during the summer vacation itself. The Supreme Court Bar Association will be holding a farewell function for these three judges on Friday itself.
With the retirements of Justice Dinesh Maheshwari and Justice M R Shah, the current strength of judges in the Supreme Court had fallen to 32 as against the sanctioned strength of 34. The collegium headed by the CJI on May 16 had recommended to the Centre the names of Justice Mishra and senior advocate Viswanathan as judges of the apex court.
Besides the CJI, the collegium also comprises justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, KM Joseph, Ajay Rastogi and Sanjiv Khanna. The clearance of these two names from the Centre came within two working days.
(With PTI inputs)
