A majority of the judges in the current Supreme Court collegium are in line to be Chief Justices of India, as per the seniority norm, in the next few years.
The collegium has got two new members in Justices B.R. Gavai and Surya Kant. Justice Sanjeev Khanna is the new number three judge in the collegium after the Chief Justice and Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul.
Until recently, the Supreme Court had a six-member collegium instead of the usual five members.
Justice Khanna was part of the earlier collegium, though not one among the first four puisne judges of the court, as he was expected to succeed Chief Justice Chandrachud in November 2024. The Supreme Court in the Third Judges Case and the Memorandum of Procedure for the appointment of Supreme Court judges had said the successor to the incumbent CJI should have a hand in the selection of judges.
The collegium reverted to the usual five-member composition with the retirement of Justice M.R. Shah in May. Two more judges in the earlier collegium — Justices K.M. Joseph and Ajay Rastogi — also retired in June, during the summer holidays, paving the way for the entry of Justices Gavai and Kant into the Chandrachud Collegium.
Justice Gavai is expected to take over as top judge from Justice Khanna in May 2025. Justice Kant is expected to succeed Justice Gavai as Chief Justice in November 2025 till his retirement in February 2027.
The next change in the collegium would come with the retirement of Justice Kaul, the current number two judge in the Supreme Court, in December 2023. Justice Aniruddha Bose would then become a member of the collegium till his retirement in April 2024.
Number of vacancies
The new collegium would have to swing into action after the court reopens on July 3. The apex court’s strength would be reduced to 31 with the retirement of Justice V. Ramasubramanian on June 29. Justice Krishna Murari is also set to retire on July 8, raising the number of vacancies in the court to four. The sanctioned judicial strength is 34.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has published a new subject-wise roster for allocation of cases to its 15 Benches from July 3.
The Benches of the Chief Justice of India, Justices Kaul and Khanna would be hearing public interest petitions.
Cases dealing with key subjects such as elections, habeas corpus pleas, appointment of constitutional functionaries, personal law matters, commissions of inquiry, criminal matters, admissions, etc., would be heard by the Chief Justice’s Bench.
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