Karnataka High Court CJ Prasanna Bhalachandra Varale sworn in as Supreme Court judge

New Delhi, January 25

Karnataka High Court Chief Justice Prasanna Bhalachandra Varale was sworn in as a judge of the Supreme Court on Thursday.

Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud administered the oath of office to Justice Varale at a brief ceremony attended by judges, advocates and Supreme Court Registry officials here this morning.

Top court attains full strength of 34

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• With Justice Prasanna Bhalachandra Varale’s swearing in, the number of judges in the Supreme Court has reached 34, which is its total sanctioned strength
• The appointment came a month after the retirement of Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul on December 25, 2023

With Justice Varale’s swearing in, the number of judges in the Supreme Court has reached 34, which is its total sanctioned strength. The appointment came a month after the retirement of Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul on December 25, 2023.

Justice Varale is the third sitting judge from the Dalit community in the Supreme Court, apart from Justice BR Gavai and Justice CT Ravikumar. The Centre had on Wednesday notified the appointment of Justice Varale as a judge of the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court Collegium led by Chief Justice Chandrachud had recommended his elevation to the top court. The decision was taken unanimously in a meeting of the five-member Collegium, which also included Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Justice BR Gavai, Justice Surya Kant and Justice Aniruddha Bose. The Collegium took into consideration the fact that Justice Varale, one of the senior-most high court judges, was the only high court chief justice from the Scheduled Caste community.

Appointed as a judge of the High Court of Bombay on July 18, 2008, Justice Varale was elevated as Chief Justice of the High Court of Karnataka on October 15, 2022, and had been performing very well there, the resolution noted. Describing him as a “competent judge with unimpeachable conduct and integrity”, it stated that he had throughout maintained a high standard of professional ethics and the judgments authored by him dealt with a variety of issues in every field of law.