Delhi High Court Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya has been recommended for appointment to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court Collegium on Monday recommended three High Court chief justices for elevation to the top court.
Justice Upadhyaya began his legal and judicial career in Lucknow and is only the second practitioner from the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court to be elevated to the Supreme Court in the past 25 years. He served as a judge at the Lucknow bench for more than 11 years before becoming a chief justice.
Advocate Ritika Singh Sisodiya said Justice Upadhyaya was only the second lawyer from the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court to reach the Supreme Court in the last 25 years. Before him, Justice Brijesh Kumar was elevated to the top court in 2000.
According to the Delhi High Court website, Justice Upadhyaya was born on June 16, 1965, in Muskarai village in Uttar Pradesh’s Ambedkar Nagar district. He earned his law degree from Lucknow University in 1991 and enrolled as an advocate on May 11 that year.
He started practising law in the chambers of his father, RA Upadhyaya, who appeared before the Board of Revenue. He later worked with senior advocates Mohammad Arif Khan and SK Kalia. His practice largely focused on civil and constitutional matters before the Lucknow bench.
In May 2007, he became Uttar Pradesh’s Chief Standing Counsel and continued in the position until he was elevated to the High Court in November 2011. He was appointed a judge of the Allahabad High Court on November 21, 2011, and became the senior judge of its Lucknow bench on March 28, 2023.
Justice Upadhyaya was subsequently appointed Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court and took oath on July 29, 2023. In January 2025, the Union government notified his transfer as Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, and he assumed office on January 21, 2025.
Along with Justice Upadhyaya, the Collegium recommended Gujarat High Court Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Telangana High Court Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh for elevation to the Supreme Court.
The Collegium was headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and included Justices Vikram Nath, BV Nagarathna, MM Sundresh and P S Narasimha.
The recommendations will now go through the prescribed process for appointing judges to the Supreme Court.
