Justice Sunita Agarwal, Gujarat High Court Chief Justice, Appointed Judge of Supreme Court
Justice Sunita Agarwal, Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court, is appointed a Supreme Court judge, taking the number of women judges on the bench to three.
Justice Sunita Agarwal, Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court, has been appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of India. The Centre acted on the recommendation the Supreme Court Collegium made on September 28, 2026.
Her elevation takes the number of women judges on the apex court to three. The Supreme Court has an approved strength of 38 judges, including the Chief Justice of India, and was working with 34 before the Collegium's recommendations. With the three Chief Justices recommended on September 28 on the bench, the court reaches 37 and keeps one vacancy.
Justice Agarwal was born on April 30, 1966. She was appointed an Additional Judge of the Allahabad High Court on November 21, 2011, and took oath as a permanent judge on August 6, 2013. After about twelve years at Allahabad she was transferred and made Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court, where she assumed charge on July 23, 2023.
She leaves Gujarat after a little over three years as Chief Justice. The vacancy at the head of the High Court will have to be filled either by a regular appointment or by an acting Chief Justice under Article 223.
All three judges recommended on September 28 are sitting High Court Chief Justices: Justice Agarwal from Gujarat, Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya from Delhi and Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh from Telangana. Justice Agarwal and Justice Upadhyaya both come from the Allahabad High Court, and she ranks above him in seniority because she enrolled at the Bar five months earlier. An analysis by The Leaflet notes that none of the three is in line to become Chief Justice of India.
On the Supreme Court bench she will serve until April 29, 2031, when she turns 65. That gives her about four and a half years. On the High Court rolls she would have retired on April 30, 2028.
The Collegium that cleared the names is led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and includes Justices Vikram Nath, B.V. Nagarathna, M.M. Sundresh and P.S. Narasimha. Its statement of September 28 was published on the Supreme Court's website.
