AP CJ Prashant K Mishra, senior advocate KV Viswanathan take oath as Supreme Court judges

Satya Prakash

New Delhi, May 19

Andhra Pradesh High Court Chief Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and senior advocate KV Viswanathan were sworn in as judges of the Supreme Court on Friday, taking the court’s strength to its full strength of 34 Judges, including the CJI.

Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud administered the oath of office to the two newly appointed judges at a brief ceremony attended by Supreme Court judges and advocates in the morning.

Justice Mishra and Viswanathan were unanimously recommended for their elevation to the top court by a five-member Collegium headed by CJI Chandrachud on May 16 and the Centre cleared their names within 48 hours.

Upon the retirement of Justice JB Pardiwala on August 11, 2030, Viswanathan — the 10th lawyer to be directly elevated to the top court as a judge — will become the CJI and remain in the post till May 25, 2031, if the line of succession is not disturbed.

Four more vacancies will arise by the second week of July. Justice KM Joseph (June 16) Justice Ajay Rastogi (June 17), Justice V Ramasubramanian (June 29) and Justice Krishna Murari (July 8) are due to retire in 2023. Two more judges – Justice Ravindra R Bhatt and Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul — will retire on October 20 and December 25 this year, respectively.

Justice Mishra was appointed as a judge of the High Court of Chhattisgarh on December 10, 2009 and took over as the Chief Justice of the Andhra Pradesh High Court on October 13, 2021.

Born on May 26, 1966, Viswanathan has appeared in a wide range of cases on diverse subjects including Constitutional law, criminal law, commercial law, the law of insolvency, and arbitration.