It is for the first time in its 70 year history that nine judges took the oath of office at once. Nine new judges including three women were administered the oath of office as the Supreme Court judges on 31-August-2021 (Tuesday) by Chief Justice of India (CJI) NV Ramana.
With the swearing-in of the new judges, the strength of the Supreme Court has now risen to 33, including the Chief Justice of India (CJI), out of the sanctioned strength of 34.
The swearing-in ceremony was held in the auditorium of the Supreme Court’s additional building complex.
The 9 new Supreme Court judges who were administered the oath of office as Supreme Court judges are:
Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka: Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka was born on 25th May 1960 and is also known as A. S. Oka. He did his LLM from Mumbai University and was enrolled on June 28, 1983, as an advocate. On 29 August 2003, A. S. Oka was elected as an Additional Judge of the Bombay High Court and was appointed as a permanent judge on 12 November 2005. He was appointed as a Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court on 30 April 2019 and took an oath as Karnataka High Court Chief Justice on 10 May 2019.
Justice Vikram Nath: Vikram Nath was born on 24 September 1962 in Uttar Pradesh to a middle-class family. He practised at Allahabad High Court as a lawyer and on 24 September 2004, he was promoted as a judge of Allahabad High Court. On 10 September 2019, he was elevated as Chief Justice of Gujarat High Court. During the 2020 Pandemic, Vikram Nath became one of the first Chief Justice of a High Court in India to live-stream proceedings on Youtube. After the retirement of Justice Surya Kant in the year 2027, Nath is in line to become Chief Justice of India.
Justice Jitendra Kumar Maheshwari: Jitendra Kumar Maheshwari was born on 29 June 1961 in Madhya Pradesh. He has worked as a practising lawyer in Gwalior and has been a Chief Justice of Sikkim High Court. He has also served as Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh High Court and Judge of Madhya Pradesh High Court.
Justice B V Nagarathna: B V Nagarathna was born on 30th October 1962 in the Mandya district of Karnataka. She is the daughter of E.S. Venkataramiah, former Chief Justice of India. She got her law degree from Campus Law Center, Faculty of Law, University of Delhi. Nagarathna was enrolled with the Bar Council of Karnataka in the year 1987. She was appointed as an additional judge of the Karnataka High Court in 2008 and was appointed as a permanent judge on 17 February 2010. She is in line to become the first woman Chief Justice of India in 2027.
Justice Hima Kohli: Hima Kohli was born in New Delhi on 2 September 1959. She completed her degree in law from the Campus Law Centre, University of Delhi and was enrolled with the Bar Council of Delhi in 1984. Kohli was appointed as an additional judge of the Delhi High Court on 29 May 2006. She was also appointed as the Chief Justice of the Telangana High Court in 2021. Justice Hima Kohli is also known as the first woman judge to occupy the position in Telangana High Court.
Justice C T Ravikumar: C T Ravikumar was born on 6 January 1960. He obtained his law degree from the Government Law College, Kozhikode. On July 12 1986, he got enrolled as an advocate and started practising in civil, criminal, service and labour matters. On 5 January 2009, Ravi Kumar was appointed as an additional judge of Kerala High Court and was made a permanent judge on December 15, 2010.
Justice M M Sundresh: M M Sundresh was born on July 21, 1962 at Erode district in Tamil Nadu. He obtained his law degree from the Law College of Madras. M. M. Sundresh was elevated to the Madras High Court on 31 March 2009 and his appointment was made permanent on 29 March 2011. He has practised in all the fields of law at Madras High Court.
Justice Bela M Trivedi: Bela M Trivedi was born on June 10, 1960. She has practised in civil, criminal and constitutional matters as an advocate in Gujarat High Court, Ahmedabad. Trivedi was elevated to the Gujarat High Court as an additional judge on February 17, 2011. In June 2011, she was transferred as an additional judge of the Rajasthan High Court. She was shifted back to the Gujarat High Court in February 2016. Justice Trivedi is the first woman judge from the Gujarat High Court to be elevated to the Supreme Court.
Justice P S Narasimha: P S Narasimha was born on May 4, 1963 and brought up in Hyderabad. He is the son of renowned Justice P. Kodanda Ramayya, the founder chairman of a publishing trust known as ‘Arsha Vijnana Trust’ and also the author of “The Message of Mahabharata”. He was appointed as an Additional Solicitor General of India in 2014 and subsequently resigned in 2018. Narasimha is one of the few to be directly elevated from the advocate’s room to being a judge of the Supreme Court.
