Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Jamshed Burjor Pardiwala took oath as Supreme Court judges on Monday.
Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana read out the oath of the constitutional office to the two new judges in a brief, solemn ceremony held in an auditorium of the Supreme Court additional building complex.
Other Supreme Court judges were in attendance on the dais. Justice Dhulia was sworn in first followed by Justice Pardiwala. They would be judges 33 and 34, completing the sanctioned judicial strength of the court.
After a half-hour high tea, the judges would assemble in their respective courtrooms for the day’s work.
Justice Pardiwala is sitting in the Chief Justice’s Bench in court number one on his first day as Supreme Court judge.
Justice Dhulia is part of the Bench led by Justice U.U. Lalit, who is the seniormost judge after the CJI and next in line to be the top judge as per the seniority norm.
Justice Pardiwala is in line to be appointed Chief Justice of India years from now. He would then have a tenure of about two years and three months as the top judge of the country.
Justice Dhulia is the second judge to be elevated from Uttarakhand High Court. The grandson of a freedom fighter who took part in the Quit India Movement, Justice Dhulia, who hails from Madanpur, a remote village in Pauri Garhwal district, was elevated as a judge of the High Court of Uttarakhand in November 2008.
He later became the Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court on January 10, 2021.
Justice Pardiwala would be the sixth member of the Parsi community to become a Supreme Court judge.
A fourth generation legal professional in his family, his father, Burjor Cawasji Pardiwala, had briefly served as the Speaker of the Seventh Legislative Assembly of Gujarat besides being a lawyer.
The President appointed the two judges on May 7 within only a couple days of the Supreme Court Collegium’s recommendation last week.
With Justices Dhulia and Pardiwala, the Ramana Collegium has successfully seen to the appointment of a total 11 judges to the Supreme Court since August 2021. A substantial feat considering that his immediate predecessor was not able to appoint even one judge to the Supreme Court.
Of the 11 judges, Justice B.V. Nagarathna, is in line to be the first woman Chief Justice of India, albeit for 36 days, in 2027.
