ON Monday, the Union government notified the appointment of Krishnan Vinod Chandran, the Chief Justice of Patna High Court, as a judge of the Supreme Court. He is likely to take the oath of office on Thursday, to be administered by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna.
With the appointment of Justice Chandran, the Supreme Court will be functioning with 33 judges against the sanctioned posts of 34 judges, including the CJI. The Supreme Court judge Hrishikesh Roy is slated to retire on January 31.
On January 7, the collegium comprising CJI Khanna and Justices B.R. Gavai, Surya Kant, Hrishikesh Roy and Abhay S. Oka had recommended the name of Justice Chandran as judge of the Supreme Court.
In their recommendation, the collegium had noted that there was no representation on the Bench of the Supreme Court from the High Court of Kerala. Until recently, Justice C.T. Ravikumar represented the High Court of Kerala in the Supreme Court. Justice Ravikumar retired on January 5.
At present, the Supreme Court Bench has no representation from the high courts of Jharkhand, Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, Meghalaya, Orissa, Sikkim and Tripura.
Justice Chandran was appointed as a judge of the High Court of Kerala on November 8, 2011, and was elevated as the Chief Justice of the High Court of Judicature at Patna on March 29, 2023, and has been functioning as the Chief Justice of that high court since then.
