BREAKING| Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia & JB Pardiwala Take Oath As Supreme Court Judges; SC Gets Full Strength Of 34 Judges

The swearing-in ceremony of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia & JB Pardiwala as Supreme Court Judges took place today.

The Chief Justice of India N V Ramana administered the oath of office to new Judges in the auditorium of the Court's Additional Building Complex.

With the addition of two judges, the Supreme Court will start functioning at its full strength of 34 from today.

The Centre on May 7th notified the appointment of Gauhati High Court Chief Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Gujarat High Court judge Jamshed Burjor Pardiwala as Supreme Court judges.

On May 5, 2022, the Supreme Court collegium had recommended the elevation of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Jamshed Burjor Pardiwala as Supreme Court judges.

The 5-member collegium headed by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana had made the recommendations.

The Supreme Court, with 32 judges at present, has 2 vacancies out of the sanctioned strength of 34 judges. With the appointments of Justice Dhulia and Justice Pardiwala, now the court shall function with its full strength.

However, the Court is set to see more vacancies soon, with the retirement of Justices Vineet Saran and L Nageswara Rao on May 10 and June 7 respectively. Justice AM Khanwilkar is retiring on July 29. CJI NV Ramana, Justices Indira Banerjee and UU Lalit are retiring in the months of August, September and November respectively.

About Justice Dhulia

Justice Dhulia, a second generation legal professional, was the first Chief Standing Counsel in the High Court of Uttarakhand and was later an Additional Advocate General for the State of Uttarakhand. He was designated as a Senior Advocate in 2004. He was elevated as the Judge of High Court of Uttarakhand in November 2008 and later became the Chief Justice of the High Court of Assam, Mizoram, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh on 10 January 2021.

About Justice Pardiwala

Justice Pardiwala started practicing Law in the High Court of Gujarat in the year 1990. He was elected as a member of the Bar Council of Gujarat in the year 1994. He was appointed as the Standing Counsel for the High Court of Gujarat in the year 2002 and held the office till the date of his elevation to the Bench on 17 February 2011.

Justice Pardiwala has around 1012 reportable judgements on varied subjects. As on date, he is one of the members of the Standing Committee and Co- ordination Committee of the High Court of Gujarat and is also Chairman of the purchase committee. As ex-officio President of the Gujarat State Judicial Academy he has undertaken many programmes and initiatives for the betterment of the District Judiciary.