In A First, Collegium Recommends 3 Women As SC Judges, One Of Them Could Become 1st Female CJI
The Supreme Court Collegium headed by chief justice NV Ramana and comprising four senior-most judges has reportedly recommended nine names for appointment to the top court.?
The five-member collegium also comprises Justices UU Lalit, AM Khanwilkar, DY Chandrachud and L Nageswara Rao.
With Supreme Court judge Justice Navin Sinha retiring on Wednesday, there will be 10 vacancies in the top court, which has a total of 34 judges.
Out of these 10 vacancies, the collegium has zeroed in on nine names. There has been no appointment after September 2019.
The list of recommendations includes three women judges, including BV Nagarathna from the Karnataka High Court, who if elevated now, could become the country's first woman CJI in February 2027 and occupy the post until October 29, 2027, for 8 months. Justice Nagarathna would succeed Justice Surya Kant as CJI in February 2027. Justice Nagarathna's father, Justice ES Venkataramiah, had been a CJI for a few months in 1989.
The other two women judges selected by the collegium are justice Hima Kohli, who is the chief justice of Telangana HC, and justice Bela Trivedi, who is a judge in the Gujarat High Court.?
Other names finalised by the collegium are: justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka, chief justice of Karnataka High Court; Vikram Nath, chief justice of Gujarat High Court; justice Jitendra Kumar Maheshwari, chief justice of Sikkim High Court; justice C.T. Ravikumar, judge in Kerala HC; and justice M.M. Sundresh, judge in Kerala High Court.
Recommendations sent to Law Ministry
According to reports, these recommendations have been sent to the law ministry, which has the option of sending the recommendations back to the collegium for review.?
However, if these recommendations are re-submitted by the collegium, then names have to be approved.
Chief justice Ramana's predecessor chief justice S.A. Bobde did not make a single appointment during his 17 month tenure, as he couldn't build a consensus on several names, which stalled appointments in the top court.
