Three New Judges Take Oath as Supreme Court Strength Reaches 37

Three new judges took the oath of office on Tuesday, October 6, bringing the total strength of the Supreme Court to 37 judges with one vacancy still remaining. Chief Justice Surya Kant administered the oath to Justice Sunita Agarwal, Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya, and Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh in the name of God. With these additions, the top court now has three female judges in total.

Background

Justice Sunita Agarwal is the 13th woman judge to be appointed to the Supreme Court. The other current female judges on the bench are Justice B.V. Nagarathna and Justice V. Mohana, with Justice Nagarathna slated to become the first female Chief Justice of India on September 24 of next year. Prior to their current elevations, Justice Agarwal served as a judge of the Gujarat High Court, Justice Upadhyaya served as a judge of the Delhi High Court, and Justice Singh served as the Chief Justice of the Telangana High Court.

Reactions

The swearing-in ceremony was attended by Supreme Court judges, Attorney General R. Venkataramani, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, and other senior advocates. According to Dainik Bhaskar, the Awadh Bar Association celebrated Justice Upadhyaya's appointment by distributing 51 kilograms of laddoos in the High Court campus, as he was previously a member of the association and had practiced law after completing his LLB from Lucknow University.