Supreme Court gets three new judges, regains full working strength of 34

The Supreme Court on Friday reached its full working strength of 34 judges with three new judges taking the oath of office.

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Chief Justice of India BR Gavai administered the oath of office to Karnataka High Court Chief Justice NV Anjaria, Gauhati High Court Chief Justice Vijay Bishnoi and Justice Atul S Chandurkar of the Bombay High Court as judges of the Supreme Court.

Justice Bishnoi took oath in Hindi at the 10-minute ceremony attended by Supreme Court judges, lawyers and the court staff.

The SC Collegium led by CJI Gavai had on May 26 recommended the names of Justice Anjaria, Justice Bishnoi and Justice Chandurkar for elevation to the top court and the Centre had notified the appointments on Thursday.

The three vacancies in the top court were created by the retirement of CJI Sanjiv Khanna, Hrishikesh Roy and Justice Abhay S Oka. Justice Bela M Trivedi is due to retire on June 9.

Justice Anjaria began legal career at the Gujarat High Court in August 1988 as a junior under senior advocate SN Shelat and went on to handle constitutional, civil, labour, and service matters.

He also served as standing counsel for the Gujarat High Court, State Election Commission, and Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation, besides other state bodies before being appointed as an additional judge of the Gujarat High Court on November 21, 2011.

Justice Anjaria became a permanent judge of the Gujarat High Court on September 6, 2013, and was appointed as the Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court on February 25 last year.

Enrolled as an advocate on July 8, 1989, Justice Bishnoi practised at the Rajasthan High Court and the Central Administrative Tribunal, Jodhpur, dealing with civil, criminal, constitutional, service and election cases. He also served as Additional Central Government Standing Counsel during 2000-04.

He was appointed as an additional judge of the Rajasthan High Court on January 8, 2013, and made a permanent judge on January 7, 2015. Justice Bishnoi was appointed as Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court on February 5, 2024.

Enrolled as an advocate on July 21, 1988, Justice Chandurkar began his legal practice in the chambers of senior advocate BN Naik in Mumbai. Later, he shifted his practice to Nagpur, where he handled a wide range of cases.

Justice Chandurkar has written two books — The Maharashtra Municipal Council, Nagar Panchayats & Industrial Townships Act, 1965, and The Maharashtra Rent Control Act, 1999. He was appointed as an additional judge of the Bombay High Court on June 21, 2013.