Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya, Delhi High Court Chief Justice, Appointed Supreme Court Judge

Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya, Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, has been appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of India. The Supreme Court Collegium recommended him on September 28, 2026, along with the Chief Justices of the Gujarat and Telangana High Courts.

He follows Justice Manmohan, who was also elevated to the apex court from the Delhi High Court's top post. The Delhi bench regularly hears constitutional matters involving the Union government alongside a heavy commercial docket.

Justice Upadhyaya was born on June 16, 1965. He studied law at Lucknow University and enrolled as an advocate in May 1991. He was appointed an Additional Judge of the Allahabad High Court on November 21, 2011, and became a permanent judge on August 6, 2013. On March 28, 2023, he became the senior judge of the Allahabad High Court's Lucknow Bench.

Four months later he took oath as Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court, on July 29, 2023. He was transferred to Delhi and assumed office as Chief Justice there on January 21, 2025. His time at the head of the Delhi High Court runs a little under two years.

He and Justice Sunita Agarwal share an Allahabad High Court origin and were appointed to that court on the same day in 2011. The Scobserver analysis notes that Justice Agarwal ranks above him in seniority because she enrolled at the Bar five months earlier.

The Delhi High Court will need a new Chief Justice, either through a regular appointment or an acting arrangement under Article 223. The court is already short of judges, working with fewer than its sanctioned strength of 60.

On the High Court rolls he was due to retire on June 16, 2027. On the Supreme Court he will retire on June 15, 2030.