Three new judges take the Supreme Court oath and leave one seat open

Chief Justice Surya Kant swore in three new Supreme Court judges on Tuesday in the auditorium of the new court block, taking the working strength to 37 against a sanctioned strength of 38. The three are Justices Sunita Agarwal, Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Aparesh Kumar Singh, each elevated from a high court chief justiceship.

The Union government notified the appointments on Monday. Law minister Arjun Ram Meghwal announced the clearance. The Collegium had recommended the three names on 28 September. The gap between recommendation and oath is nine days, which is short by the recent standard of this appointment track.

Justice Agarwal's oath changes the gender count on the bench. PTI reported that she is the sixth woman ever elevated to the Supreme Court, and that the number of women judges now sitting is three. The other two are Justice B.V. Nagarathna, appointed on 31 August 2021, and Justice Venkita Subramani Mohana, appointed on 2 June 2026. Three women on a bench of 37 is still a small share. It is also the highest simultaneous number the court has had.

The sanctioned strength itself is new. It was raised from 34 to 38 by the Supreme Court Amendment Act, 2026. Before Tuesday's ceremony the working strength was 34, one reading in the agency copy, and the three oaths brought it to 37. One seat remains open. That single vacancy is now the only gap between the court and its new statutory ceiling.

The elevation also empties three high court chief justice chairs. The New Indian Express reported that Gujarat, Delhi and Telangana will each need a new chief justice, and that the Collegium has already started that process, with interviews under way. The Supreme Court gain is therefore a high court loss on the same day. A court that has just been filled at the top has three vacant leadership posts one level down.

Who was in the room is part of the record. PTI said all sitting Supreme Court judges were present, along with judicial officers and officials from different high courts, family members, and lawyers from the Supreme Court and the high courts. The ceremony was in the auditorium of the new block, not the old courtroom. That is a small architectural fact, and it is where the photographs were taken.

For the cause list, 37 judges against 38 is a capacity number, not a clearance of arrears. The court has spent years with a working strength below even the old ceiling of 34. The amendment raised the ceiling. Tuesday used most of the new room. The remaining seat, and the three high court chairs, are the appointments still in motion.

Justice Agarwal's position as the sixth woman ever appointed is the figure that will be cited in the next Collegium note. The court has had women judges since the 1980s. It has rarely had three at once. Nagarathna is the senior of the three by date. Mohana has been on the court since June. Agarwal joins them on 6 October. Any future elevation of a woman will be counted against this baseline, not against the older baseline of one or two.

The government notification, the Collegium date, and the oath are three different acts. The Collegium proposed on 28 September. The Centre cleared on 5 October. The Chief Justice administered the oath on 6 October. That sequence is the whole appointment. What it does not yet include is the names of the next chief justices of Gujarat, Delhi and Telangana.

The practical consequence inside the court is allocation. A bench of 37 can run more simultaneous hearings than a bench of 34. It does not, by itself, shorten the queue of constitutional matters that already have dates. What it does change is the pool from which the Chief Justice draws special benches. Three new judges, all former high court chief justices, arrive with administrative experience from Gujarat, Delhi and Telangana. Their first weeks will be roster weeks, not headline weeks.

The one open seat under the new ceiling of 38 is now the visible remainder of the amendment. Until it is filled, the working strength of 37 is the number that should be used in any count of the court's capacity. The older figure of 34 was the pre-amendment ceiling and, on one agency reading, the strength on Monday morning. Both are stale after the oaths in the new block.