29 High Court recommendations pending with government, 15 SC/ST judges appointed since November 2022: What the Collegium’s data on HC appointments tells us

IN AN UNPRECEDENTED MOVE FURTHERING TRANSPARENCY, the Chief Justice of India (‘CJI’) Sanjiv Khanna decided to release data regarding the appointment of judges to the High Courts approved by the Supreme Court Collegium between November 9, 2022, to May 5, 2025. The data also details the social background of the judges in terms of whether they belong to Scheduled Caste (‘SC’), Scheduled Tribe (‘ST’), Other Backward Classes(‘OBC’), Minority  or  women. 

 Importantly, the data so published also reveals whether the candidate recommended by the Collegium is related to any sitting or former judge of a  High Court or the Supreme Court. 

 The person recommended for appointment is treated to be related to a sitting or retired judge of a High Court and/or the Supreme Court, if such judge is/was his/her

(i) Father,

(ii) Mother,

(iii) Father-in-law,

(iv) Mother-in-law,

(v) Sister,

(vi) Brother,

(vii) Sister-in-law, or

(viii) Brother-in-law

In addition, the Supreme Court's full court in a meeting held on April 1 this year, also decided that all top Court judges would make  a declaration of their assets on assuming office and whenever any acquisition of a substantial nature is made, to the Chief Justice. This also includes declaration(s)  by the Chief Justice of India. Placing the declaration of assets on the Supreme Court website is mandatory. Earlier, the disclosure to the public was voluntary.