In a first, Supreme Court to have 3 Dalit judges as Centre clears name
With justice PB Varale’s appointment, the Supreme Court will once again have the full sanctioned strength of 34 judges, including the Chief Justice of India
NEW DELHI: The Union government on Wednesday notified the elevation of Karnataka high court chief justice PB Varale as a judge in the Supreme Court, clearing the collegium’s recommendation within a week and paving the way for the top court to have three judges from the Scheduled Caste category for the first time in its history.
“In exercise of the power conferred by the Constitution of India, Hon’ble the President, after consultation with Hon’ble Chief Justice of India, is pleased to appoint Sh Justice PB Varale, chief justice of the Karnataka high court, as judge of the Supreme Court of India,” Union minister of state for law and justice, Arjun Ram Meghwal, announced on X, formerly Twitter.
With justice Varale’s appointment, the Supreme Court will once again have the full sanctioned strength of 34 judges, including the Chief Justice of India. The top court was short of one judge after the retirement of justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul on December 25.
Headed by CJI Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, the Supreme Court collegium on January 19 recommended justice Varale’s elevation noting the judge has acquired considerable experience as a judge of the Bombay high court where he was appointed in 2008, and as the chief justice of the Karnataka high court.
“While recommending his name, the collegium has taken into consideration the fact that among the high court judges, he is the senior-most Judge belonging to a scheduled caste and the only chief justice belonging to a scheduled caste among the chief justices of high courts across the country,” the collegium, which also comprised justices Sanjiv Khanna, Bhushan R Gavai, Surya Kant and Aniruddha Bose, said in its resolution on the day.
With justice Varale’s elevation, the Supreme Court will for the first time have three judges from the Scheduled Caste category, including justices Gavai and CT Ravikumar.
Justice Gavai is in line to become the CJI in May 2025. After justice KG Balakrishnan, justice Gavai will be the second Dalit to become the CJI following the retirement of justice Khanna on May 3, 2025. He will remain in that post till November 23, 2025.
While making the recommendation on January 19, the collegium also took note of the vacancy that arose on the retirement of justice Kaul.
“The Supreme Court of India has operated almost throughout last year with full strength of thirty-four judges and, therefore, could achieve the distinction of recording an unprecedented rate of disposal by disposing of 52,191 cases in 2023. Bearing in mind that the workload of judges has increased considerably, it has become necessary to ensure that the court always has full working judge-strength. The collegium has, therefore, decided to fill up the sole existing vacancy by recommending a name,” its resolution said.
Addressing an event in the national capital in September last year, CJI Chandrachud stressed on institutionalising the system of appointing judges by laying down objective parameters, as he added that the Supreme Court collegium has collected data of the top 50 judges in the country who would be considered for future appointments in the top court. One of the important effects of institutionalising courts, the CJI added, is that it enhances transparency and accountability.
In April 2023, justice Chandrachud said that there cannot be any justification for the collegium to keep even a single vacancy unfilled in the Supreme Court, as he announced involving the Centre of Research and Planning (CRP), the in-house think tank of the top court, in the process of preparing a list of probables for future appointments in the top court.
CRP, he announced, was tasked to assist the permanent secretariat in the top court, which deals with various aspects of judicial appointments, including collection of information, preparation of records and putting them up before the collegium.
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