The Union Government has notified the appointment of three serving Chief Justices of High Courts as judges of the Supreme Court, paving the way for Justices Sunita Agarwal, Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Aparesh Kumar Singh to join the Bench of the country’s apex court.
The appointments were notified by the Centre after the Supreme Court Collegium, headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, recommended their elevation on September 28. The Collegium had selected Justice Agarwal, Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court; Justice Upadhyaya, Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court; and Justice Singh, Chief Justice of the Telangana High Court.
With the three appointments, the sanctioned strength of the Supreme Court, including the CJI, will rise to 37 judges, leaving one vacancy against the sanctioned strength of 38. The elevation of Justice Agarwal will also take the number of women judges on the Supreme Court to three.
Justice Sunita Agarwal, who has her parentage in the Allahabad High Court, was elevated as a judge of that High Court in November 2011 and became a permanent judge in August 2013. She assumed office as Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court in July 2023. Before her elevation to the Bench, she practised on the civil side at the Allahabad High Court.
Her appointment marks a significant addition to the representation of women on the Supreme Court. She will be the third woman serving on the top court, alongside Justice B.V. Nagarathna and Justice V. Mohana. She is also the second woman judge recommended for elevation to the Supreme Court by the Collegium headed by CJI Surya Kant.
Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya also comes from the Allahabad High Court. He was appointed as a judge in November 2011 and became a permanent judge in August 2013. He had served as Chief Standing Counsel for the State of Uttar Pradesh before his elevation to the Bench.
Justice Upadhyaya was appointed Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court in July 2023 and subsequently transferred to the Delhi High Court, where he assumed office as Chief Justice in January 2025. His elevation now brings his extensive experience in civil and constitutional matters to the Supreme Court.
Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh, meanwhile, has his parentage in the Jharkhand High Court. He was elevated as an Additional Judge of that High Court in January 2012 and was confirmed as a permanent judge in January 2014.
Justice Singh later served as Acting Chief Justice of the Jharkhand High Court before being appointed Chief Justice of the Tripura High Court in April 2023. He subsequently took charge as Chief Justice of the Telangana High Court in July 2025.
The three elevations follow a series of appointments aimed at filling vacancies in the Supreme Court. The September 28 Collegium resolution recorded that the recommendations were made by the five-member Collegium comprising CJI Surya Kant and Justices Vikram Nath, B.V. Nagarathna, M.M. Sundresh and P.S. Narasimha.
Notably, none of the three newly appointed judges is presently in the line of succession for the office of Chief Justice of India. Their elevation will nevertheless add considerable High Court-level judicial experience to the apex court at a time when the Court’s sanctioned strength has recently been expanded.
The appointment of Justice Singh also has a notable seniority dimension. Justice Shree Chandrashekhar, who was elevated from the Jharkhand High Court to the Supreme Court earlier in 2026, had been junior to Justice Singh in the High Court’s inter se seniority. Following the present elevation, however, Justice Singh will rank junior to Justice Chandrashekhar in the Supreme Court.
The formal notification completes the executive stage of the appointment process following the Collegium’s recommendation and clears the way for the three Chief Justices to assume office as judges of the Supreme Court.
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