Justices KV Viswanathan & Prashant Kumar Mishra : Newly Elevated Judges Bring the Supreme Court of India Back to its Full Strength
After the appointment of 2 new judges, Justice KV Viswanathan & Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra, the Supreme Court of India is at its full strength of 34 judges now
New Delhi : On 16th May, the Supreme Court Collegium recommended 2 names as the new judges of the top Court. Within 2 days, the Central government notified their appointments and on May 19th, Justice KV Viswanathan and Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra were sworn-in as Supreme Court judges by the Chief Justice of India (CJI) D. Y. Chandrachud. The swearing-in ceremony commenced at 10.15 am and was live-streamed. The new Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal announced the appointment of the 2 new judges on Twitter too.
With Justice Viswanathan in line to become the Chief Justice of India after 7 years from now, in 2030, the elevation of these judges has put the Court’s judge limit to its maximum. After the retirement of Justice Dinesh Maheshwari on May 12th and Justice M. R. Shah on May 15th, the Supreme Court of India had 32 out of the 34-judge limit. With today’s addition, the Court is at its full-sanctioned strength of 34. With 4 more judges set to retire by the end of 2023, the elevation of the judges will be of immense importance.
Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra was the Chief Justice of the Andhra Pradesh High Court from 2021 before he got elevated to the Supreme Court Bench. He is the only representative for the Chhattisgarh High Court in the Supreme Court of India at present. Justice K. V. Viswanathan has been directly appointed from the Bar to the Supreme Court Bench.
