Thursday, Justice Prasanna Bhalachandra Varale took the oath of office as a judge of the Supreme Court. This means that there are now three judges who are Dalits.

The other two are Justices B.R. Gavai and C.T. Ravikumar, who are both on the Supreme Court. Due to his high rank, Justice Gavai is next in line to become the Chief Justice of India.

The fact that Justice Varale was appointed also shows that the court is determined to work even though there are a lot of cases that need to be heard.

Supreme court

Given that judges’ workload has grown significantly, it is now important to make sure that the court always has enough judges to do its work.

The Supreme Court of India worked with 34 judges for most of last year, so it could make history by deciding 52,191 cases in 2023, which is the highest number ever. This was said in a resolution passed by the Collegium on January 19 when it recommended Justice Varale as a Supreme Court judge.

When Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul retired on December 25, 2018, there was only one open seat on the top court. His appointment filled that seat. The court’s official strength as a judge is 34.

The career of Prasanna Bhalachandra Varale:

Judge Varale was the head of the Karnataka High Court before he was made a judge of the Supreme Court.

Since October 15, 2022, he has been the Chief Justice of the High Court of Karnataka.

At that point, he was the only High Court Chief Justice who was from a Scheduled Caste group. He was also the most senior judge in the High Court who was from a Scheduled Caste.

Bombay is Justice Varale’s home High Court. He was made a judge there on July 18, 2008. Three judges from the Bombay High Court are already on the Supreme Court’s bench.

The Collegium resolution said that Justice Varale was a judge with “unimpeachable conduct and integrity.” He had been a lawyer for 23 years before becoming a High Court judge. He was sixth on the list of all-India High Court judges in terms of status.