New look Supreme Court collegiums: Justices Gavai and Surya Kant join five-judge collegium, Justice Khanna becomes part of three-judge collegium

The five-judge collegium headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud will now comprise Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, B.R. Gavai, and Surya Kant.

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WITH the retirement of Justices K.M. Joseph and Ajay Rastogi, the composition of the Supreme Court Collegium changed on Saturday as Justices B.R. Gavai and Surya Kant became part of it by virtue of their seniority.

The duo will now be part of a five-judge collegium which makes recommendations for appointing judges to the Supreme Court and the transfer of high court judges.

Justice Sanjiv Khanna, who is also in the five-judge collegium, will now be a member of the three-judge collegium which takes a call on the appointment of judges and chief justices to high courts. He has replaced Justice Joseph in this collegium.

With the retirement of Justices Joseph on Friday, Rastogi on Saturday and V. Ramasubramanian on June 29, there will be three vacancies in the Supreme Court.

Later this year, there will be three more vacancies in the Supreme Court with Justices Krishna Murari, S. Ravindra Bhat and Kaul set to retire on July 8, October 10 and December 25 respectively.

The new-look collegium will remain unchanged until the retirement of its senior-most judge Justice Kaul on December 25 this year. His retirement will bring Justice Gavai on board the three-judge collegium and Justice Aniruddha Bose on board the five-judge collegium.

Chief Justice of India (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud and Justices Khanna, Gavai, Kant and Bose will continue to be members of the collegium till their retirement on November 10, 2024, May 13, 2025, November 23, 2025, February 9, 2027 and April 10, 2024 respectively.

Of them, Justices Khanna, Gavai and Kant will go on to become CJIs in succession.