Chief Justice Surya Kant on Tuesday (October 6, 2026) administered oath of office to three new judges elevated to the Supreme Court, taking its working strength to 37, one short of the sanctioned 38 .
Justices Sunita Agarwal, Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Aparesh Kumar Singh took oath in the auditorium of the new Supreme Court block. All the Supreme Court judges, judicial officers and officials from different high courts were present on the occasion.
Family members and lawyers from the Supreme Court and other high courts were also present during the ceremony. Justice Mohana was elevated directly from the Bar While Justice Agarwal and Justice Nagarathna have a background of serving in high courts. She had been a senior advocate of the Supreme Court. Justices Agarwal and Upadhyay originally are from the Allahabad High Court, while Justice Singh belongs to the Jharkhand High Court. Justice Agarwal was Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court, Justice Upadhyaya was Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court while Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh was the Chief Justice of the Telangana High Court.
On Monday (October 5, 2026), Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal made the announcement about the government clearing the names of the three judges. The Supreme Court Collegium had recommended the names on September 28. the effective strength has gone up to 37 While the current working strength of the apex court is 34 and upon swearing in of the three new judges. The top court’s sanctioned strength is 38 judges, including the Chief Justice of India. It was recently increased from 34 following the Supreme Court Amendment Act, 2026. With Justice Sunita Agarwal’s appointment, the number of women judges in the top court has gone up to three, including Justice B V Nagarathna, who has been a judge in the top court since August 31, 2021, and Justice Venkita Subramani Mohana, who was appointed on June 2, 2026. Justice Nagarathna will also become the Chief Justice of India for less than a month in 2027. Justice Sunita Agarwal was born on April 30, 1966 and was enrolled as an advocate with the UP Bar Association on December 16, 1990. After a dedicated practice of 21 years, Justice Agarwal was elevated as additional judge of Allahabad High Court on November 21, 2011 and, thereafter, took oath as a permanent judge on August 6, 2013. After serving as a judge in Allahabad High Court for 12 years, Justice Agarwal was appointed as the Chief Justice of Gujarat High Court on July 23, 2023. Justice Upadhyaya was born on June 16 1965 at village Muskarai of Ambedkar Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh. He graduated in law in the year 1991 from Lucknow University and enrolled as an advocate on May 11, 1991. He was appointed as the chief standing counsel for Uttar Pradesh in May 2007 and continued to hold that office till his elevation as judge of the Allahabad High Court. He was appointed as a puisne judge of the Allahabad High Court on November 21, 2011 and took oath as the permanent judge on August 6, 2013. Justice Upadhyaya took oath as the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court on July 29, 2023 and was transferred as the Delhi High Court Chief Justice on January 21, 2025. Justice Singh was born on July 7, 1965 and obtained his LLB degree from University of Delhi. He got enrolled as an advocate in Patna High Court in the year 1990 and practiced there till year 2000 and in the Jharkhand High Court since 2001. He was appointed as additional judge of the Jharkhand High Court on January, 24, 2012 and was confirmed as permanent judge on January 16, 2014. He was appointed as the acting chief justice of the Jharkhand High Court from December 20, 2022 to February 19, 2023. He took oath as the Chief Justice of the Tripura High Court on April 17, 2023 and was transferred as the Chief Justice of the Telangana High Court on July 19, 2025.
