“Independence of the judiciary is a basic feature of the Constitution — and that independence begins with how judges are appointed.” — Supreme Court, Fourth Judges Case (2015)
On 27 May 2026, the Supreme Court Collegium — headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant — recommended five names for elevation to the Supreme Court. This was the first batch of recommendations under CJI Surya Kant’s leadership. The five names include four sitting High Court Chief Justices and Senior Advocate V. Mohana, a direct appointee from the Bar.
The recommendations came just eleven days after President Droupadi Murmu promulgated the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Ordinance, 2026 on 16 May, raising the court’s sanctioned strength from 34 to 38 judges. If all five are confirmed, the working strength will rise to 37 — one short of the new ceiling.
📌 The Five Recommended Names
The Collegium’s list comprises four High Court Chief Justices and one advocate from the Bar:
- Justice Sheel Nagu — Chief Justice, Punjab and Haryana High Court (parent HC: Madhya Pradesh). Elevated as judge of Punjab and Haryana HC on 28 December 2013. Previously served as Additional Advocate General for Punjab (2004–2007).
- Justice Shree Chandrashekhar — Chief Justice, Bombay High Court (parent HC: Jharkhand).
- Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva — Chief Justice, Madhya Pradesh High Court.
- Justice Arun Palli — Chief Justice, Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court. His recommendation helps maintain regional representation of Punjab and Haryana on the Supreme Court bench; he is due to retire four months from the date of recommendation.
- Senior Advocate V. Mohana — Practises before the Supreme Court. A direct appointment from the Bar — the less-common path to the apex court.
4 + 1 Formula: Four sitting High Court Chief Justices + One Senior Advocate from the Bar = Five recommended names on 27 May 2026.
⚖️ V. Mohana: A Historic Appointment from the Bar
Senior Advocate V. Mohana’s recommended elevation is the most historically significant in this batch. She graduated from Coimbatore Law College in 1988 as part of India’s first-ever batch of the five-year integrated law programme (introduced in 1983). She moved to Delhi in 1992 to work under advocate Indu Malhotra — who later became the first woman elevated directly from the Bar to the Supreme Court in 2018.
Mohana was designated a Senior Advocate in April 2015 and has worked with senior legal figures including K.K. Venugopal, Kapil Sibal, P. Chidambaram, and T. Andhyarujina. She also served as panel lawyer for the Government of India and as an honorary editor for the Supreme Court Reports (SCR).
If appointed, she would be:
- The second woman elevated directly from the Bar to the Supreme Court (after Justice Indu Malhotra, 2018)
- The second woman from Tamil Nadu to serve on the Supreme Court bench (after Justice R. Banumathi)
- The first woman appointed to the SC since August 2021 — ending a near five-year gap
In over 75 years of the Supreme Court’s existence, fewer than a dozen women have served as judges of the apex court. With 37 judges post-confirmation and only two being women, what does that say about the pace of gender reform in judicial appointments?
| Milestone | Person | Year |
|---|---|---|
| First woman SC judge | Justice M. Fathima Beevi | 1989 |
| First woman elevated directly from Bar | Justice Indu Malhotra | 2018 |
| Last woman appointed to SC (before 2026 rec.) | Justice B.V. Nagarathna (among nine-judge batch) | August 2021 |
| Second woman to be elevated directly from Bar (recommended) | Senior Advocate V. Mohana | 2026 |
| First woman Chief Justice of India (future) | Justice B.V. Nagarathna | After Sept 2027 |
📜 The Collegium System: Constitutional Background
The Supreme Court Collegium is the apex body for judicial appointments and transfers in India’s higher judiciary. It consists of the Chief Justice of India and the four senior-most judges of the Supreme Court. Notably, the system is not explicitly mentioned in the Constitution — it evolved through three landmark judgments known as the Three Judges Cases:
- First Judges Case — S.P. Gupta v. Union of India (1981): Held by a 4:3 majority that the executive must have the primary say in judicial appointments under Article 124.
- Second Judges Case — SC Advocates-on-Record Association v. Union of India (1993): Reversed the 1981 ruling and established that the CJI must have primacy in appointments — this gave birth to the Collegium system.
- Third Judges Case — In re Special Reference 1 of 1998: Delivered in response to a Presidential Reference under Article 143, this expanded the Collegium from three to five members (CJI + four senior-most puisne judges).
A significant challenge came in 2014 when Parliament enacted the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act and the 99th Constitutional Amendment to replace the Collegium. However, in the Fourth Judges Case (2015), a five-judge constitutional bench struck down the NJAC by a 4:1 majority, holding that it threatened judicial independence. The Collegium system has continued since.
Don’t confuse the “Three Judges Cases”: The Collegium was formally born in the Second Judges Case (1993), not the First. The Third Judges Case (1998) only expanded its membership from 3 to 5. The NJAC was struck down in a separate Fourth Judges Case (2015), not in any of the original three.
✨ Expansion of Supreme Court Strength from 34 to 38
On 5 May 2026, the Union Cabinet approved the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill, 2026. Since Parliament was not in session, President Droupadi Murmu promulgated the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Ordinance, 2026, notified in the Gazette of India on 16 May 2026 under Article 123 of the Constitution.
The Ordinance amends Section 2 of the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, 1956, substituting “thirty-three” with “thirty-seven” in the number of puisne judges — bringing the total including the CJI to 38. This is the first expansion since 2019, when strength was raised from 31 to 34.
Think of the Supreme Court as an office. When the workload increases, you add more desks. The Ordinance added 4 new “desks” (judgeships) — from 34 to 38 — to help manage nearly 93,000 pending cases. But just adding desks doesn’t clear the backlog; you also need to change how work is assigned.
| Year | Sanctioned Strength | Remark |
|---|---|---|
| 1950 | 8 | At inception (26 Jan 1950) |
| 1956 | 10 | First revision |
| 1960 | 13 | — |
| 1977 | 17 | — |
| 1986 | 25 | — |
| 2019 | 34 | Previous expansion |
| 2026 | 38 | Current expansion via Ordinance |
🌍 Women’s Representation on the Supreme Court Bench
As of 27 May 2026, the Supreme Court has only one sitting woman judge — Justice B.V. Nagarathna, daughter of former CJI E.S. Venkataramiah. She was elevated in August 2021 as part of a nine-judge batch — and no woman has been appointed since then, a gap of nearly five years.
If V. Mohana is formally appointed, women’s representation will rise to two out of 37 judges. Justice Nagarathna is slated to become India’s first woman Chief Justice of India for a period of over a month after September 2027.
The broader pattern is sobering: in over 75 years of the Supreme Court’s existence, fewer than a dozen women have ever served as its judges. Critics argue that the Collegium, despite being a judicial body, has historically been slow to prioritise gender diversity in its recommendations.
📌 Process After Collegium Recommendation
Once the Collegium’s resolution is published on the Supreme Court’s website, it follows a defined path:
- Transmitted to the Union Ministry of Law and Justice
- The Ministry examines the recommendations; the Intelligence Bureau (IB) may conduct a background check
- The Union Government may seek reconsideration once — but if the Collegium reiterates the name, the appointment must proceed
- The President formally appoints judges by issuing warrants of appointment
There is no constitutionally prescribed timeline for this process. Delays between recommendation and formal appointment have historically been a major point of contention between the judiciary and the executive.
Does the Collegium system strike the right balance between judicial independence and democratic accountability? The NJAC was struck down to protect independence — but the Collegium itself has faced criticism for opacity, lack of diversity, and delayed recommendations. Is a reformed, transparent Collegium possible, or is a new model needed?
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The SC Collegium recommended five names on 27 May 2026 — four High Court Chief Justices and Senior Advocate V. Mohana. CJI Surya Kant heads the Collegium.
The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Ordinance, 2026 was promulgated by President Droupadi Murmu on 16 May 2026 under Article 123 of the Constitution, raising the strength from 34 to 38.
The Second Judges Case (1993) — SC Advocates-on-Record Association v. Union of India — gave birth to the Collegium system. The Third Judges Case (1998) expanded it to 5 members.
V. Mohana would be the second woman elevated directly from the Bar to the Supreme Court — the first was Justice Indu Malhotra in 2018. V. Mohana worked under Indu Malhotra early in her career.
The Supreme Court was functioning with 32 sitting judges on 27 May 2026. Two further retirements (Justices J.K. Maheshwari and Pankaj Mithal) were expected in June 2026.
