NEW DELHI, Jan 25: Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud gave Chief Justice P B Varale of the Karnataka High Court the oath of office as a Supreme Court justice here on Thursday. One day after the Centre cleared his name for judicial office, the sworn-in ceremony took place on the Supreme Court’s grounds. With the Chief Justice of India and three other sitting justices from the Dalit group, the top court now has 34 judges, including the Chief Justice of India. This is a first for the court. B R Gavai and C T Ravikumar are the other two judges currently in office who belong to the Scheduled Caste community. A five-judge SC Collegium chaired by Chief Justice CJI Chandrachud stated that it considered Justice Varale’s seniority and status as the lone chief justice from the Scheduled Caste when supporting his nomination earlier this month. The retirement of Justice S K Kaul on December 25, 2018, left a vacancy in the top court. Within a week of the SC Collegium recommending Justice Varale, he was appointed. “The President is pleased to appoint Shri Justice Prasanna Bhalachandra Varale, Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court, to be a Judge of the Supreme Court of India, with effect from the date he assumes charge of his office,” a law ministry notification stated. This appointment was made in exercise of the powers granted by clause (2) of Article 124 of the Indian Constitution. The collegium recommended Justice Varale’s appointment but noted that the Supreme Court had functioned at nearly full strength with 34 judges for the majority of the previous year. As a result, the court could record an unprecedented case-handling rate in 2023 by resolving 52,191 cases. It is now essential to make sure that the court always has judges on duty at all times due to the significant rise in their workload. As a result, the Collegium has chosen to suggest a candidate to fill the one open position,” it had stated. Judge Varale was born on June 23, 1962, and on July 18, 2008, he was appointed as a judge of the Bombay High Court. On October 15, 2022, he was promoted to the position of chief justice of the Karnataka High Court. With Justice Varale’s promotion to the highest court, the Bombay High Court will now have four justices representing it in the Supreme Court. The other three justices that sit in the Bombay High Court are Justices Gavai, Abhay S. Oka, and CJI Chandrachud.
