Collegium Recommends Telangana, Kerala HC Chief Justices Ujjal Bhuyan & SV Bhatti For Supreme Court Judgeship

The Supreme Court collegium has recommended the names of Telangana High Court Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Kerala High Court Chief Justice S Venkatanarayana Bhatti as judges of the top court, in order to fill two of three vacancies left behind by now retired Judges - Justices KM Joseph, Ajay Rastogi and V Ramasubramanian.

In this regard, the collegium headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud today passed a resolution that reads thus:

"The Supreme Court of India has a sanctioned strength of thirtyfour Judges and is presently functioning with thirty-one Judges. Thus, there are three clear vacancies. That makes it imperative for the Collegium to take steps to fill up the vacancies with a view to augment the working judge-strength to take care of the backlog of cases and the large institution of fresh matters. The Collegium deliberated on and discussed the names of Chief Justices and senior puisne Judges of the High Courts eligible for appointment to the Supreme Court"

As per the resolution, while recommending the two names, the Collegium has taken into consideration the following aspects:

a. The seniority of Chief Justices and senior puisne Judges in their respective parent High Courts as well as the overall seniority of the High Court Judges;

b. The merit, performance and integrity of the judges under consideration; and

c. The need to ensure diversity and inclusion in the Supreme Court by:

(i) representation of High Courts which are not represented or are inadequately represented, in the Supreme Court;

(ii) appointment of persons from marginalized and backward segments of society;

(iii) gender diversity; and

(iv) representation of minorities.

As mentioned above, the Supreme Court is presently working with a strength of 31 judges as against the sanctioned strength of 34. With the retirement of Justice K. Murari on Friday, the working strength of the Apex Court will go down to 30.

Collegium's opinion on Justice Bhuyan

The resolution of the collegium notes that 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 a 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 wide-ranging issues pertaining to law and justice. Mr. Justice Ujjal Bhuyan is a judge with a good reputation for integrity and competence," the Collegium has opined.

Justice Ujjal Bhuyan was appointed as a judge of the Gauhati High Court on 17 October 2011. He is currently the senior-most judge of his parent High Court and is presently serving as Chief Justice of the High Court for the State of Telangana since 28 June 2022.

Justice Bhuyan has served as a judge of the Gauhati High Court and as Chief Justice of the High Court for the State of Telangana. 

Collegiums' opinion on Justice Bhatti

The Collegium has observed that 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, Justice Bhatti has acquired considerable experience in various branches of law. 

"The judgments authored by him dealing 4 with issues in various branches of law stand testimony to his legal acumen and competence. Apart from according representation to the State of Andhra Pradesh, the appointment of Mr Justice Bhatti will provide a value addition in terms of his acquired knowledge and experience. He commands a good reputation and possesses integrity and competence," the Colllegium has further opined.

The Collegium has also noted that the parent High Court of Justice Bhatti (Andhra Pradesh High Court) does not have any representation on the Bench of the Supreme Court since August 2022.

Justice S Venkatanarayana Bhatti was appointed as a Judge of the High Court of Andhra Pradesh on 12 April 2013 and is the seniormost in his parent High Court. He was transferred to the High Court of Kerala in March 2019 and is presently serving as Chief Justice there since 01 June 2023. 

Read/Download Collegium's resolution here