Today, the Supreme Court Collegium passed a resolution recommending the appointment of Senior Advocate KV Viswanathan as a Supreme Court judge. The members of the Collegium include Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice KM Joseph, Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, and Justice Ajay Rastogi. The resolution passed illustrated that “In their considered opinion (Collegium), Mr KV Viswanathan, Senior Advocate is eminently suitable for being appointed as a Judge of the Supreme Court.” It also reads, “His wide experience and profound knowledge will provide a significant value addition to the Supreme Court.” Currently, the Supreme Court is functioning with a strength of 32 judges whereas the sanctioned strength of the Supreme Court is 34. Further, in the second week of July, the strength will come to 28 due to the retirements.
KV Viswanathan was born on May 26, 1966, and on his appointment as a judge of the Supreme Court would serve in that capacity until 25 May 2031. On the retirement of Justice JB Pardiwala on August 11, 2030, Viswanathan would be in line to assume office as the Chief Justice of India till his retirement on May 25, 2031. After his appointment beings cleared by the Central Government, Senior Advocate Viswanathan will be the 10th name on the list of lawyers who were appointed directly from the Bar as judges of the Supreme Court. Justices SC Roy, Santosh Hegde, UU Lalit, Indu Malhotra, SM Sikri, PS Narasimha, Kuldip Singh, Rohinton Nariman, and L Nageswara Rao were the other judges appointed directly from the Bar.