The Supreme Court is set to strengthen its bench with the appointment of three new judges, taking the working strength of the country’s top court to 37, just one short of its sanctioned capacity of 38.
The three judges elevated to the Supreme Court are Justice Sunita Agarwal, Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court; Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya, Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court; and Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh, Chief Justice of the Telangana High Court.
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Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal announced the appointments on Monday through a social media post. The appointments follow the recommendation of the Supreme Court Collegium, which cleared the names of the three judges on September 28.
The appointments come at a time when the Supreme Court is operating below its sanctioned strength. The court currently has a sanctioned strength of 38 judges, including the Chief Justice of India.
According to the report, the current working strength of the apex court is 34. Once the three newly appointed judges formally take the oath of office, the effective strength will rise to 37.
The appointments will therefore leave the Supreme Court with only one vacancy against its sanctioned strength.
Justice Sunita Agarwal, who currently serves as the Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court, is among the three judges elevated to the apex court. Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya, Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, and Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh, Chief Justice of the Telangana High Court, will also join the Supreme Court bench.
The Collegium’s recommendation on September 28 paved the way for the Centre to make the appointments. The announcement by the Law Minister formally confirmed the elevation of the three judges.
The increase in the court’s working strength comes after a recent change in the sanctioned strength of the Supreme Court. The sanctioned strength was raised from 34 to 38 following the Supreme Court Amendment Act, 2026.
The move is significant for the functioning of the country’s highest judicial institution, which handles a large volume of constitutional, civil and criminal matters. With the three appointments, the court will move closer to its full sanctioned strength.
However, the three judges will have to formally take the oath before they begin functioning as members of the Supreme Court. Until that happens, the court’s working strength remains at 34, according to the report.
Once the oath-taking is completed, the effective strength will increase to 37 out of the sanctioned 38.
The appointments also mark the elevation of the heads of three major high courts to the country’s apex court. Their experience as chief justices at the Gujarat, Delhi and Telangana High Courts will now be brought to the Supreme Court.
The latest appointments leave the top court just one judge short of its newly expanded sanctioned strength. The development comes after Parliament increased the sanctioned number of Supreme Court judges from 34 to 38, including the Chief Justice of India.
