Collegium recommends appointment of Justices Ujjal Bhuyan, SV Bhatti as Supreme Court judges

New Delhi, July 6 : The Supreme Court Collegium on Wednesday recommended the elevation of two High Court Chief Justices, Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice SV Bhatti as judges of the apex court.

Justice  Bhuyan is currently serving as the Chief Justice of the Telangana High Court while Justice Bhatti is the Chief Justice of Kerala High Court. Justice Bhuyan’s parent High Court is the Gauhati High Court. He was appointed as a judge of the Gauhati High Court on October 17, 2011. He is the senior-most judge of his parent High Court and has been serving as Chief Justice of the Telangana High Court since June 28, 2022.

Justice Bhatti was appointed as a judge of the High Court of Andhra Pradesh on April 12, 2013 and is the senior-most in his parent High Court. He was transferred to the Kerala High Court in March 2019 and is presently serving as Chief Justice there since June 1, 2023. The Collegium resolution noted that the Andhra Pradesh High Court does not have any representation in the Supreme Court since August 2022.

The Supreme Court is currently functioning with a strength of 31 judges as against a sanctioned strength of 34. Justice Krishna Murari will be retiring on July 7 Friday taking the total vacancies to 4.