SC At Full Bench Strength For A Day: CJI Administers Oath To Justice Mishra And Senior Advocate Viswanathan

The Chief Justice of India administered the oath of office to Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and senior advocate KV Viswanathan as judges of the Supreme Court on Friday.

Chief Justice of India (CJI) Justice DY Chandrachud administering the Oath of Office to Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and senior advocate Kalpathy Venkataraman Viswanathan as judges of the Supreme Court on Friday

Source : PTI

The Supreme Court of India is at its full bench strength as Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud administered the oath of office to the Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh High Court Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and senior advocate Kalpathy Venkataraman Viswanathan as judges of the Supreme Court on Friday at the apex court's auditorium. Justice Mishra primarily belongs to Chhattisgarh High Court and he is the first from there to be appointed to Supreme Court. As per the seniority list of judges, Justice Viswanathan will become the Chief Justice of India in 2030 upon the retirement of Justice JB Pardiwala on August 11, 2030, and will remain in the post till May 25, 2031.

The office of President Droupadi Murmu issued the warrant for the appointment of Justice Mishra and Justice Viswanathan as Supreme Court judges on Thursday. Their appointments were announced by new Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal on Twitter.

In exercise of the powers conferred by the Constitution of India, Hon’ble President of India, after consultation with Hon’ble Chief Justice of India, is pleased to appoint the following as Judges of the Supreme Court of India :- pic.twitter.com/DpwLrc4Gwj

— Arjun Ram Meghwal (@arjunrammeghwal) May 18, 2023

With these two new appointments, the number of judges in the Supreme Court reached its sanctioned strength of 34 however, the top court will be at its full strength only for a brief period as Friday marks the last working day of three judges - Justice K M Joseph, Justice Ajay Rastogi and Justice V Ramasubramanian, who are set to retire in June, reported news agency PTI. 

On May 16, the collegium led by the CJI recommended the names of Justice Mishra and senior advocate Viswanathan for the position of judges of the supreme court. Within two working days, these two names received the Center's approval. Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, KM Joseph, Ajay Rastogi, and Sanjiv Khanna are also members of the collegium along with to the CJI.