The Supreme Court Collegium has recommended Karnataka High Court Chief Justice Prasanna B. Varale for Supreme Court judgeship. If appointed, it will be the first time that the Supreme Court of India has three Dalit judges.
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ON Friday, the Supreme Court Collegium recommended the name of Justice Prasanna B. Varale as judge of the Supreme Court.
The collegium, which comprises Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dr D.Y. Chandrachud and Justices Sanjiv Khanna, B.R. Gavai, Surya Kant and Aniruddha Bose decided to this effect.
Justice Varale is presently functioning as Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court. He hails from the Bombay High Court.
In its recommendation, the collegium noted that Varale is the senior-most judge belonging to a Scheduled Caste community and the only chief justice belonging to a Scheduled Caste community among the chief justices of high courts across the country.
With the appointment of Justice Varale, there will be a total of four judges from the Bombay High Court in the Supreme Court. The other three are CJI Chandrachud and Justices Gavai and Abhay S. Oka.
This will also raise the number of judges from Schedule Caste communities to three. The other two are Justices Gavai and C.T. Ravikumar. It will be the first time the Supreme Court will have three judges belonging to Scheduled Caste communities.
Justice Varale was appointed as a judge of the High Court of Bombay on July 18, 2008. He was elevated as Chief Justice of the High Court of Karnataka on October 15, 2022.
The collegium states that Justice Varale has acquired considerable experience as a judge of the High Court of Bombay and as the Chief Justice of the High Court of Karnataka for more than a year.
"The judgments authored by him deal with a variety of issues in every field of law. He is a competent judge with unimpeachable conduct and integrity and has throughout maintained a high standard of professional ethics," the collegium states.
Justice Varale stands at serial no.6 in the combined all-India seniority of high court judges. In the seniority of judges of the High Court of Bombay, he is the senior-most judge.