सुप्रीम कोर्ट में 37 न्यायाधीश, महिला न्यायाधीशों की संख्या बढ़कर 3

Supreme Court strength rises to 37 after HC chief justices elevated; women judges increased to 3

Justice Agarwal is set to serve on the Supreme Court until April 2031, while Justices Upadhyaya and Singh are due to retire in 2030.

The Centre has notified the appointment of three Supreme Court judges recommended by the Collegium headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant last week, increasing the judges' strength at the top court to 37 (including the CJI). The elevations include a woman judge, increasing the number of women judges to three.

Confirming the development, Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said in a post on X, “In exercise of the powers conferred by the Constitution of India, the President of India is pleased to appoint the following Chief Justices of high courts as judges of the Supreme Court of India.”

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Justice Agarwal, Upadhyaya and Singh elevated to top court

The names include justice Sunita Agarwal (chief justice of Gujarat high court), justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya (chief justice of Delhi high court) and justice Aparesh Kumar Singh (chief justice of Telangana high court).

The appointments follow the recommendations made by the SC Collegium issued a week ago on September 28. Besides CJI, the collegium comprises four seniormost judges of the top court – justices VIkram Nath, BV Nagarathna, MM Sundresh and PS Narasimha.

Agarwal becomes third woman Supreme Court judge

Justice Agarwal, who was elevated to the bench from the Allahabad high court, will be the third woman judge to be a judge of the highest court. Presently, justice Nagarathna (who is slated to be the first woman CJI in September 2027) and justice V Mohana (elevated directly from the bar) are the two woman judges in the Supreme Court.

The parent high court of justice Upadhyaya is Allahabad high court while that of justice Singh is Jharkhand high court.

Justice Agarwal was appointed a judge in November 2011 and became Chief Justice of the Gujarat HC in July 2023. The Gujarat High Court’s official website records her date of birth as April 30, 1966 and her appointment as Chief Justice on July 23, 2023. She will have nearly five years in the Supreme Court till April 2031.

Upadhyaya has served as Delhi high court chief justice

Justice Upadhyaya studied law at Lucknow University and enrolled as an advocate in May 1991. He served as chief standing counsel for Uttar Pradesh from 2007 until his elevation to the Allahabad High Court in November 2011. He became chief justice of the Bombay high court in July 2023 and was transferred as Chief Justice of the Delhi high court in January 2025. On appointment to the top court, he will retire in June 2030.

Justice Singh studied law at the University of Delhi and enrolled as an advocate in 1990. He practised before the Patna high court before moving to the Jharkhand high court, where he was elevated as a judge in 2012. He served as acting chief justice of the Jharkhand HC before becoming Chief Justice of the Tripura High Court in April 2023. He was transferred to the Telangana high court and took oath as its chief justice in July 2025. He too will have a tenure of less than four years with his retirement in July 2030.

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None of the elevated chief justices is in line to become CJI. Later this year, a vacancy will be created in the Supreme Court with the retirement of justice Satish Chandra Sharma in November.

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