Overview
- The Union government notified the elevations on Monday and Chief Justice Surya Kant administered the oaths on Tuesday to Justices Sheel Nagu, Shree Chandrashekhar, Sanjeev Sachdeva, Arun Palli and senior advocate V. Mohana.
- The five appointees include four sitting high court chief justices and one senior advocate directly elevated from the Bar, bringing the Supreme Court’s working strength to 37, one short of the new sanctioned total of 38.
- V. Mohana’s elevation makes her only the second woman ever to be promoted directly from the Bar and raises the number of serving women judges to two, improving gender representation on the bench.
- The appointments follow the Supreme Court Collegium’s recommendations made in meetings on May 22 and May 27 and came quickly after a May ordinance that expanded the court’s sanctioned strength to address mounting case backlog.
- Two sitting justices are due to retire later in June on June 16 and June 28, which will create near-term vacancies and may prompt further short-notice appointments to keep the court’s capacity stable.