Former Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh High Court Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and senior advocate KV Viswanathan were on Friday sworn in as judges of the Supreme Court. They were administered oaths by the Chief Justice of India Justice DY Chandrachud.
While the top court welcomed the two new judges in Justice Mishra and Justice Viswanathan, it today bid farewell to Justice KM Joseph, Justice Ajay Rastogi and Justice V Ramasubramanian, who are retiring on June 16, June 17 and June 29 respectively.
Though all the three judges are retiring in June, they were given a ceremonial farewell as the top court will go for its summer vacations from tomorrow (May 20).
The three judges were together in the court number one sharing the bench for the last time with the Chief Justice of India Justice DY Chandrachud.
Justice Joseph authored the landmark judgment denuding the government from making unilateral appointments of the chief election commissioner and the election commissioners and ruled that the appointments will be made by a panel comprising the Prime Minister, leader of opposition (or leader of the largest opposition party) and the Chief Justice of India.
Of the two sworn in today, Justice Vishwanathan will go on to become Chief Justice of India and will succeed Justice JB Pardiwala as Chief Justice of India on August 11, 2030.
The top court collegium headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud had on May 16 unanimously recommended the elevation of Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and the appointment of senior advocate KV Viswanathan as top court judge.
Recommending the elevation of Justice Mishra, the collegium in its resolution had said, “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 Mr Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra, Chief Justice, Andhra Pradesh High Court (PHC: Chhattisgarh) to be more deserving and suitable in all respects for being appointed as a Judge of the Supreme Court of India.”
Recommending Justice Mishra for appointment as a top court judge and noting that he stands at number 21 of the seniority list of the High Court judges, the collegium in its resolution had said: “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 Mr. Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra, Chief Justice, Andhra Pradesh High Court (PHC: Chhattisgarh) to be more deserving and suitable in all respects for being appointed as a Judge of the Supreme Court of India.”
The resolution recommending Viswanathan for appointment as a judge of the top court, the collegium had said, “Having regard to the fact that at present there is only one member from the Bar directly appointed to the Supreme Court Bench, the Collegium has also considered the names of eminent members of the Bar. In their considered opinion, Mr K V Viswanathan, Senior Advocate is eminently suitable for being appointed as a Judge of the Supreme Court. The appointment of Shri K V Viswanathan will enhance the representation to the Bar in the composition of the Supreme Court. Shri Viswanathan is a distinguished member of the Bar of the Supreme Court. His wide experience and profound knowledge will provide a significant value addition to the Supreme Court.”