Collegium Recommends Elevation Of Senior Advocate K V Viswanathan & Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra To Apex Court

The Supreme Court Collegium has recommended the elevation of Senior Advocate K V. Vishwanathan and Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra to the Apex Court.

A statement has just been uploaded to the website of the Apex Court. The Collegium comprises of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice Sanjay Kaul, Justice K.M. Joseph, Justice Ajay Rastogi and Justice Sanjiv Khanna.

Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra is the Chief Justice of the Andhra Pradesh High Court and his parent High Court is the Chhattisgarh High Court. K V. Vishwanathan enrolled in the year 1988 and was designated as a Senior Advocate in the year 2009.

The resolution comes in the wake of the retirement of Justice Dinesh Maheshwari and Justice M. R. Shah this month.

The statement mentions that the Supreme Court has a sanctioned strength of thirty-four Judges and is presently functioning with thirty-two Judges. It also says that with four more vacancies which are going to arise by the second week of July, the working strength of Judges would come to twenty-eight.

"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 statement says.

The statement notes that there is no representation to the High Court of Chhattisgarh in the present composition of the Supreme Court and that he ranks at serial number 21 in the All-India Seniority List of judges of the High Courts.

"The Collegium is conscious of the fact that the present Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court who was appointed as a judge on 31 March 2009 is drawn from the parent High Court of Chhattisgarh and ranks senior to Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra. However, having considered all relevant factors, the Collegium is of the view that Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra is worthy of appointment as a judge of the Supreme Court", the statement says.

The Collegium noted the fact that at present there is only one member from the Bar directly appointed to the Supreme Court Bench (Justice P.S. Narasimha), and that 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", it says.

The statement says that on the retirement of Justice Jamshed Burjor Pardiwala on 11 August 2030, Viswanathan would be in line to assume office as the Chief Justice of India till his retirement on 25 May 2031.

Collegium has accordingly fixed the seniority of Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra above K V Viswanathan.

Click here to read/download statement