NEW DELHI: Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and senior attorney KV Viswanathan took the oath of office to serve as Supreme Court judges on Friday, May 19, 2023. The oath of office was administered to them by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud.
On May 16, the Supreme Court Collegium recommended that Chief Justices Mishra and Viswanathan of the Andhra Pradesh High Court be raised to the position of judges of the supreme court, and the Centre on Thursday cleared their names.
The decision to recommend Justices Mishra and Viswanathan for appointment as judges of the supreme court was made by the Collegium, which was presided over by Chief Justice Chandrachud and Justices SK Kaul, KM Joseph, Ajay Rastogi, and Sanjiv Khanna.
Viswanathan, who was born on May 26, 1966, would hold the position of Supreme Court judge from the day he was appointed until May 25, 2031.
Viswanathan would be next in line to become Chief Justice of India after Justice JB Pardiwala retires on August 11, 2030, and hold the position until his retirement on May 25, 2031.
Viswanathan is now the tenth name on the list of solicitors who have been appointed directly from the Bar to the Supreme Court. He will follow Justices SM Sikri, UU Lalit, and PS Narasimha as the fourth such individual to hold the position of Chief Justice of India.
In 1988, Viswanathan registered in the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu after completing the five-year integrated legal programme at Coimbatore legal College, Bharathiyar University. He has been representing clients before the Supreme Court for more than 20 years. In 2009, he received the designation of senior advocate.
Former Additional Solicitor General Viswanathan has testified in numerous instances on a variety of topics, including criminal law, commercial law, insolvency law, and arbitration. In various cases when he was appointed to support the court as an amicus curiae, the Supreme Court noted his reputation as a prominent member of the Bar.
On December 10th, 2009, Justice Mishra was appointed to the Chhattisgarh High Court. On October 13, 2021, he was chosen to serve as the High Court of Andhra Pradesh's Chief Justice.
The Collegium highlighted in its resolution that the High Court of Chhattisgarh is not represented in the Supreme Court of India's current membership.
As per the resolution, Justice Mishra has been a judge of the High Court for more than thirteen years and is listed as serial number 21 on the All-India Seniority List of judges of the High Courts.
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