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.
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.
Appointments from November 11, 2022 to November 10, 2024
During this period, Dr. D.Y. Chandrachud was the Chief Justice of India and was thus heading the Collegium. The data reveals that out of the 303 candidates recommended by the various High Courts, the Supreme Court Collegium approved the names of only 170 candidates.
Of the 170 names approved by the Collegium, a total of 7, 5, 21, 7, 28, and
23 belonged to SC, ST, OBC, MBC/BC, women and minorities respectively.
A total of 12 candidates were related to either a sitting or former judge. Of the 12, one was a relative of a sitting judge of the Supreme Court, Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra. Justice Mishra is the brother-in-law of Justice Bibhu Datta Guru who was recommended for Chhattisgarh High Court.
A total of 17 names are still pending with the government. They are:
Appointments from November 11, 2024, to May 5, 2025
During this period, Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna headed the Collegium. The data reveals that out of the 103 candidates recommended by the various High Courts, the CJI Khanna’s Collegium approved the names of only 51 candidates.
Of the 51 names approved by the Collegium, a total of 11, 1, 2, 8 and 6 belonged to OBC, SC, ST, minority and women, respectively. Only two candidates were related to any former judge of a High Court.
A total of 12 names are still pending with the government. They are:
Thus, a total of 29 names have been pending with the government since November 9, 2022.
The data, thus, shows that from November 11, 2022, till date, a total of 32, 8, 7, 7, 34 and 31 candidates were appointed as judges of the various High Courts who belonged to OBC, SC, ST, Most Backward Classes (‘MBC’), women and minorities respectively of 221 approved names. 14 candidates were relatives of former/sitting judges.
The document released by the Supreme Court giving details of how the names are considered and proceed at various levels, also states inputs concerning national security implications or overriding public interest are received. The Government at any stage before the elevation of the concerned candidate, may require Supreme Court Collegium to reconsider the recommendation. But if the Supreme Court Collegium reiterates its recommendation, the same is to be accepted by the Government as per the Memorandum of Procedure.
The document also shows that factors such as a lack of social diversity in the Collegium recommendations, few reportable cases, candidate not being a senior advocate, play a role in the government asking the Supreme Court Collegium to return the recommendation to the High Court collegium. It shows that the executive has been playing a crucial role in the appointment process.
Though the data on transfer of judges has not been made available, the information compiled from the Collegium statement shows that during the tenure of incumbent CJI Khanna, a total of 15 transfers were recommended which includes transfer of two chief justices of the High Court and repatriation of three judges.