Justice Prasanna Bhalachandra Varale took the oath of office as judge of the Supreme Court on Thursday, raising the Dalit representation on the Bench to three.
Supreme Court judges, Justices B.R. Gavai and C.T. Ravikumar, are the other two. Justice Gavai is in line to be the Chief Justice of India in accordance with the seniority norm.
Justice Varale’s appointment is also proof of the resolve of the court to function without even a single judicial vacancy, considering the workload and pendency.
“Bearing in mind that the workload of judges has increased considerably, it has become necessary to ensure that the court has full working judge strength all the time. The Supreme Court of India has operated almost throughout last year with a full strength of 34 judges and, therefore, could achieve the distinction of recording an unprecedented rate of disposal by disposing of 52,191 cases in the calendar year 2023,” the Collegium resolution had said while recommending Justice Varale as Supreme Court judge on January 19.
Justice Varale’s appointment was cleared by the Centre on January 24.
His appointment filled the sole vacancy in the top court which had arisen with the retirement of Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul on December 25 last year. The sanctioned judicial strength of the court is 34.
Justice Varale was the Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court before his elevation to the Supreme Court.
He had served as the Chief Justice of the High Court of Karnataka from October 15, 2022.
He was at the time the only High Court Chief Justice from a Scheduled Caste community. He was also the seniormost High Court judge belonging to a Scheduled Caste.
Justice Varale’s parent High Court is Bombay where he was appointed as a judge on July 18, 2008. There are already three judges from the Bombay High Court on the Bench of the Supreme Court.
The Collegium resolution said Justice Varale was a judge of “unimpeachable conduct and integrity” with 23 years’ legal practice before his appointment as a High Court judge. He was sixth in the combined all India seniority list of High Court judges.
