BREAKING | Centre Notifies Elevation Of Justices Sunita Agarwal, DK Upadhyaya & Aparesh Kumar Singh As Supreme Court Judges
With the elevation of Justice Sunita Agarwal, SC now has 3 women judges.
The Central government has notified elevation of 3 Chief Justices of High Courts to the Supreme Court, namely, Justice Sunita Agarwal, Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh.
On September 28, the Supreme Court Collegium had recommended elevation of Justice Sunita Agarwal (Chief Justice of Gujarat High Court), Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya (Chief Justice of Delhi High Court) and Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh (Chief Justice of Telangana High Court).
Justice Sunita Agarwal practiced on the Civil side at Allahabad High Court. She was elevated as Additional Judge on November 21, 2011 and took oath as Permanent Judge on August 6, 2013. She was elevated as Chief Justice of Gujarat High Court and took oath on July 23, 2023.
With the appointment of Justice Agarwal, the strength of women judges in Supreme Court has risen to 3. She is the second woman judge to be recommended by CJI Surya Kant-led Collegium. Earlier, Justice V Mohana was recommended and elevated to the Supreme Court.
Justice DK Upadhyay mainly practiced on the Civil and Constitutional sides at Allahabad High Court. He was appointed as the Chief Standing Counsel, State of U.P. in May 2007 and continued to hold that office till elevation as a Judge. He took oath as a permanent Judge of the High Court on August 6 2013. Justice Upadhyay later took oath as the Chief Justice of the High Court of Bombay on July 29, 2023. He was then transferred as the Chief Justice of Delhi High Court and took oath on 21 January, 2025.
Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh practiced at Patna High Court from 1990-2000 and in the Jharkhand High Court from 2001 till elevation as a Judge. He was appointed as Additional Judge of the Jharkhand High Court on 24 January, 2012 and confirmed as Permanent Judge on 16 January, 2014. Subsequently, Justice Singh was appointed as the Acting Chief Justice of Jharkhand High Court (20 December, 2022 to 19 February, 2023).
He later took oath as Chief Justice of Tripura High Court on 17 of April, 2023. On transfer, he took oath as the Chief Justice of Telangana High Court on 19 July, 2025.
Earlier, Justice Shree Chandrashekhar, who was junior to Justice Singh, got elevated from the Jharkhand High Court to Supreme Court. Justice Chandrashekhar's early appointment gives him seniority over Justice Singh.