Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice SV Bhatti recommended as Supreme Court Judges by Collegium

Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice SV Bhatti recommended as Supreme Court Judges by Collegium

The Top Court is currently functioning with a strength of 31 Judges as against a sanctioned strength of 34

The Supreme Court Collegium has recommended the elevation of two High Court Judges, Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice SV Bhatti as Judges of the Apex Court.

While Justice Bhuyan is currently serving as the Chief Justice of the Telangana High Court, Justice Bhatti is the Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court.

Justice Bhuyan's parent high court is the Gauhati High Court. He was appointed as a Judge of this court in October 2011. Being the senior-most judge of the parent court, he has been serving as Chief Justice of the Telangana High Court since June 2022.

The resolution of the Collegium stated, “Justice Ujjal Bhuyan has served as Judge of the Gauhati High Court and as Chief Justice of the High Court for the State of Telangana. During his long tenure, he has acquired significant experience in diverse fields of law. He has acquired a specialization and domain knowledge in the law of taxation. He has also served as a judge of the Bombay High Court, dealing with a wide spectrum of cases including taxation. His judgments cover wide-ranging issues pertaining to law and justice. He is a Judge with a good reputation for integrity and competence."

Justice Bhatti was appointed as a Judge of the Andhra Pradesh High Court in April 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 since June 2023.

The Collegium noted that the Andhra Pradesh High Court does not have any representation in the Supreme Court since August 2022.

The resolution said, "During his long tenure as a judge of the high court of Andhra Pradesh and as Chief Justice of the high court of Kerala, Justice Bhatti acquired considerable experience in various branches of law. The judgments authored by him dealing with issues in various branches of law stand as testimony to his legal acumen and competence. Apart from representation to the State of Andhra Pradesh, his appointment will provide value addition in terms of knowledge and experience. He commands a good reputation and possesses integrity and competence."