SC Collegium recommends elevating Justices Ujjal Bhuyan, S Venkatanarayana Bhatti as top court judges

New Delhi [India], July 5 : The Supreme Court Collegium on Wednesday recommended the appointment of Justice Ujjal Bhuyan, Chief Justice of Telangana High Court and Justice S Venkatanarayana Bhatti, Chief Justice of Kerala High Court as the judges of the top court.

The Collegium in its resolution said that it resolves to recommend the appointments of Justice Ujjal Bhuyan, and Justice S Venkatanarayana Bhatti by following the order of seniority.

Chief Justice of India Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud and justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, B R Gavai and Surya Kant took the decision in a collegium meeting held on Wednesday.

In the resolution, the Collegium said that after carefully evaluating the merit, integrity and competence of eligible Chief Justices and senior puisne Judges of the High Courts and also accommodating a plurality of considerations, the Collegium finds the two persons to be deserving and suitable in all respects for being appointed as Judges of the Supreme Court of India.

Justice Ujjal Bhuyan is currently Chief Justice of the High Court for the State of Telangana and his parent high court is Gauhati. Justice S Venkatanarayana Bhatti at present serving as Chief Justice, High Court of Kerala and his parent high court is Andhra Pradesh.

The Collegium unanimously resolved to recommend the two names to be appointed as Judges of the Supreme Court of India.

Justice Ujjal Bhuyan was appointed as a judge of the Gauhati High Court on 17 October 2011.

He is the senior-most judge of his parent High Court and is presently serving as Chief Justice of the High Court for the State of Telangana since 28 June 2022.

Justice Bhuyan has served as a judge of the Gauhati High Court and as Chief Justice of High Court for the State of Telangana. During his long tenure as a judge of the High Court, Mr Justice Bhuyan has acquired significant experience in diverse fields of law. He has acquired a specialisation 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. Justice Ujjal Bhuyan is a judge with a good reputation for integrity and competence.

Justice S Venkatanarayana Bhatti was appointed as a Judge of the High Court of Andhra Pradesh on 12 April 2013 and is the senior- most in his parent High Court.

The High Court of Andhra Pradesh does not have any representation on the Bench of the Supreme Court since August 2022. He was transferred to the High Court of Kerala in March 2019 and is presently serving as Chief Justice there since 01 June 2023. During his long tenure as a judge of the High Court of Andhra High Pradesh and as a Judge and subsequently, as Chief Justice of the High Court of Kerala, Justice Bhatti has acquired considerable experience in various branches of law, the collegium took into account.

The judgments authored by him dealing with issues in various branches of law stand as testimony to his legal acumen and competence. Apart from the representation to the State of Andhra Pradesh, the appointment of Justice Bhatti will provide a value addition in terms of his acquired knowledge and experience. He commands a good reputation and possesses integrity and competence, the collegium noted.

The Supreme Court has a sanctioned strength of thirty-four Judges and is presently functioning with thirty-one Judges. There are three vacancies in Supreme Court as of now.

The Collegium said that it deliberated on and discussed the names of Chief Justices and senior puisne Judges of the High Courts eligible for appointment to the Supreme Court.

"Judgments authored by those falling in the zone of consideration for elevation to the Supreme Court were circulated among the members of the Collegium, well in advance, for a meaningful discussion on an assessment of their judicial acumen. The Centre for Research & Planning of the Supreme Court has prepared a compilation of relevant background material to assist the Collegium," the collegium resolution said.