Next on Collegium agenda: Filling up vacancies in Supreme Court

With all positions of HC Chief Justices filled, it is learnt, the Collegium’s spotlight now shifts to the four vacancies in the top court. These vacancies trace back to the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Ordinance, 2026, which raised the court’s sanctioned strength in May.

Currently, the SC has 34 judges — four short of its sanctioned strength — even after five elevations in June. A fifth seat will fall vacant when Justice Satish Chandra Sharma retires on November 29. Justice Surya Kant, who took over as CJI on November 24 last year, retires on February 9, 2027. These will be the last recommendations the CJI Kant-led Collegium can make.

Sources told The Indian Express that gender representation is expected to weigh on the Collegium’s choice. Among sitting HC Chief Justices, Justices Sunita Agarwal, Lisa Gill, and Revati Mohite Dere, the current Chief Justices of the Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Meghalaya HCs, are the only women judges. Justice Agarwal, the senior of the three judges, is originally from the Allahabad HC and is due to retire in April 2028. Justice Dere, who is from the Bombay HC, retires in April 2027. Justice Gill, who is from the Punjab and Haryana HC, retires in November 2028. The SC currently has only two women judges, Justice Nagarathna, who is part of the five-member Collegium and Justice V Mohana, who was appointed on June 2.

Another key issue for consideration is recommending a candidate who can add to the potential line of succession to the office of the CJI. Under the seniority convention that has governed the office for decades, the succession is mapped through Justices Vikram Nath, B V Nagarathna — in line to become India’s first woman CJI — P S Narasimha, J B Pardiwala, K V Viswanathan, Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul Pancholi, taking the office till May 2033.

Almost every CJI in the last decade has recommended at least one candidate who is a potential CJI, except for former CJIs S A Bobde and U U Lalit.

As CJI, Justice Ranjan Gogoi recommended CJI Kant; CJI N V Ramana recommended Justices Nath, Nagarathna, Narasimha; and as CJI, Justice B R Gavai recommended Justice Pancholi. To join that line, those elevated now would join the SC at the bottom of the seniority list. Essentially, they would be junior even to the five judges sworn in on June 2 and would still have to be sitting on the bench after Justice Pancholi’s tenure ends in May 2033 to have a shot at the office. Of the sitting HC Chief Justices, only three clear that bar: Justices Pushpendra Singh Bhati, Alpesh Yeshvant Kogje and Ashwani Kumar Mishra — all three appointed last week.