Judges' Appointment

No proposal to increase retirement age of judges: Law minister Meghwal

Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal on Thursday informed Rajya Sabha that there was no proposal to increase the retirement age of judges. The minister, during question hour, also informed the upper house that 297 posts of high court judges are vacant and 97 cases are under process. "There is no such proposal pending," Meghwal told Rajya Sabha when asked whether the government intended to increase the retirement age of judges. "On the strength of judges, the minister said, "The High Court sanctioned strength is 1,122, and their working strength is 825 and vacant posts are 297. "Of these vacant posts, 97 cases are under process and 200 such cases are there where the high courts have to send their proposals. Once they come, the government will act on them," the minister told the house. Meghwal also said that the government has undertaken many improvements in court infrastructure, including the setting up of a National Judicial Data Grid. A committee has also been formed in this regard. I

SC upholds Telangana rule on 7-year law practice for district judge posts

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to interfere with the Telangana Judicial Service Rule, which mandates seven-year practice in state's courts to be eligible for appointment as district judges. A bench comprising Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Augustine George, as a result, disposed of the petitions against a Telangana High Court's verdict. The top court noted the high court's submission of having no objection to declare the results and to appoint such of the appellants/petitioners/intervenors who had qualified the 2023 recruitment examination for the appointment as district judges as an exceptional case without unsettling the 2023 rule. "We appreciate the stand taken by the High Court and, accordingly, request the High Court to declare the results of the appellants/petitioners/intervenors and to proceed for verification of their credentials/antecedents. "Such of the qualified appellants/petitioners/intervenors who are found suitable may be appointed by offering them letters o

SC regains full strength as CJI Gavai administers oath to two new judges

Chief Justice of India B R Gavai on Friday administered oath to Bombay High Court Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Patna High Court Chief Justice Vipul Manubhai Pancholi. The two were elevated to the Supreme Court on August 27. With their elevation, the apex court is set to regain its full working strength of 34 judges, including the CJI. Justice Pancholi will be in line to become the CJI in October 2031 after Justice Joymalya Bagchi's retirement on October 2, 2031. He is scheduled to assume the CJI's office on October 3, 2031, and retire on May 27, 2033. On August 25, the apex court collegium recommended to the Centre the names of Justices Aradhe and Pancholi for elevation as top court judges. Collegium member and Supreme Court's Justice B V Nagarathna, however, registered a strong dissent to the apex court collegium's recommendation to elevate Justice Pancholi to the top court, saying his appointment would be "counter-productive" to the judiciary. Justice Nagarathna, the only wom

SC to hear pleas over Centre's delay in appointing judges after two weeks

The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to list a batch of pleas questioning the delay on the part of the central government in appointment of judges after the collegium reiterated their names. A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) B R Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran said it will hear the pleas after two weeks after senior advocate Arvind Datar and advocate Prashant Bhushan mentioned them for urgent listing, saying the petitions were listed in 2023 but were suddenly dropped from the cause list. "There are names of some judges which were reiterated in 2019, then 2020 and 2022, but till now they have not been cleared. This court has a fixed time limit for taking decisions at every stage. A delay of a few weeks is understandable but a delay of four years is not understandable at all," Datar said. Eventually, what happens is that the candidate whose name has been recommended for judgeship by the Supreme Court Collegium gradually loses interest and seniority, he said. The counsel also

SC Collegium steps up vetting of HC judges amid cash row; 371 vacant posts

The SC Collegium conducted detailed 30-minute interviews with candidates from the district judiciary and Bar over two days to assess suitability for 371 vacant High Court judge posts

Cash discovery row: Govt wants to control judges' appointments, says Sibal

Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal on Tuesday alleged that the real motive of the government in moving towards bringing an impeachment motion against Justice Yashwant Varma for alleged corruption is to take control of appointment of judges by doing away with the Collegium system and bringing in the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC). Sibal, who is also a senior advocate, also accused the government of having a selective approach in handling the cases of Justice Varma and Justice Shekhar Yadav, against whom Opposition MPs have submitted a notice in the Rajya Sabha for moving an impeachment motion for making allegedly "communal" remarks last year. Law Minister Kiren Rijiju has underlined the government's resolve to take all political parties on board in moving the impeachment motion against Justice Varma. A fire incident at Varma's residence in the national capital in March, when he was a judge at the Delhi High Court, had led to the discovery of several burnt sacks of cash at th

'Transfer meant to harass me': MP HC Justice DV Ramana in farewell speech

Justice Ramana claimed he had submitted representations twice to the Supreme Court Collegium requesting a transfer, citing his wife's medical condition, but received no response

PIL highlights shortage of judges in Delhi HC, urges filling vacancies

A PIL has been filed in the Delhi High Court, highlighting a shortage of judges and urging for expeditiously filling up the vacancies by elevating eligible district judges and advocates from the bar. The public interest litigation (PIL) matter is likely to come up for hearing next week before a bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela. The Delhi High Court has a sanctioned strength of 60 judges but is working with 36 judges currently. In his plea, petitioner and advocate Amit Sahni has sought an urgent judicial intervention regarding the "alarming and chronic shortage" of judges in the court, which has "adversely impacted the timely dispensation of justice and the functioning of the judiciary". Sahni, a lawyer, has pointed out in his plea that according to the sanctioned strength, the court should have 60 judges -- 45 permanent and 15 additional. "However, it is currently functioning with only 36 judges, reflecting a vacancy rate of 40 per cent. This seri

SC puts assets, appointment process of judges in public for transparency

In a bid to enhance transparency, the Supreme Court on Monday said it has uploaded statements of assets of judges on its website, in accordance with a full-court decision to place the relevant details in the public domain. "The full court of the Supreme Court of India has on April 1, 2025 decided that the statements of assets of the judges of this court shall be placed in the public domain by uploading the same on the website of this court. Statements of assets of judges already received are being uploaded. Statements of assets of other judges will be uploaded as and when the current statement of assets is received," a release issued by the court said. The top court has also placed the complete process of appointments to the high courts and the Supreme Court, including the role assigned to the High Court Collegium, the role of and inputs received from the state governments, Union of India and consideration by the Supreme Court Collegium, on its website for the knowledge and awareness

Govt remains silent on question of reintroducing law on judges' appointment

The government on Thursday maintained silence on whether it will consider bringing again the National Judicial Appointments Commission bill to overturn the present collegium system to appoint judges. Responding to a question on the government's "view" relating to the National Judicial Appointments Committee (NJAC) and whether it would "again consider" bringing in the NJAC legislation, Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal gave a detailed response on what the now struck down law sought to do. But he was silent on whether the government will consider bringing the NJAC bill. In a written response in Rajya Sabha, he said to replace the Collegium system of appointments of judges of the Supreme Court and the high courts with a "more broad-based, transparent, accountable appointment mechanism" and to bring greater objectivity in the system, the Constitution (Ninety-Ninth Amendment) Act, 2014 and the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act, 2014 were brought. These laws came into force on ..

'We are not a trash bin': Allahabad bar slams Justice Varma's transfer

The Supreme Court Collegium decided to transfer Justice Yashwant Verma back to Allahabad High Court after hoards of cash were recovered in his New Delhi home

Corruption in judiciary: Sibal seeks 'transparency' in judges' appointment

Senior Supreme court advocate was also critical of the Allahabad High Court's observation that had said "Holding breast, breaking pyjama's string is not a crime of rape"

Ex-CJI advocates for national system to hire judges, fill vacancies

Former CJI DY Chandrachud advocates for All-India Judicial Service that would include a common national exam to recruit judges similar to those conducted for IAS and IPS

Newsmaker: Meet Justice Ranjana Desai, head of Gujarat panel on UCC

The retired Supreme Court judge, on the basis of whose report the Uniform Civil Code came into being in Uttarakhand, will draft a similar law for Gujarat

SC collegium approves appointment of five additional judges as permanent

The Supreme Court collegium on Wednesday approved the proposal for appointment of five additional judges of the high courts of Madras and Telangana as permanent judges. The collegium, headed by Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna, held its meeting on Wednesday. "The Supreme Court collegium in its meeting held on February 5, 2025 has approved the proposal for appointment of the following additional judges as permanent judges in the Madras High Court -- Justice Venkatachari Lakshminarayanan and Justice Periyasamy Vadamalai," read the collegium statement. Another statement said the collegium had approved the proposal for appointment of additional judges -- Justice Laxmi Narayana Alishetty, Justice Anil Kumar Jukanti and Justice Sujana Kalasikam -- as permanent judges in the Telangana High Court.

Govt says no plans for law requiring SC, HC judges to disclose assets

The government on Thursday told the Rajya Sabha that it had no plans to bring a law mandating Supreme Court and high court judges to furnish their property returns, as recommended by a parliamentary committee. In a written reply, Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal also said that details of the declaration of assets by the judges of high courts and the Supreme Court were not centrally maintained. The minister replied in the negative to a sub-question on "whether the government is contemplating to enact a law mandating judges of the higher judiciary to furnish their property returns as recommended by the Parliamentary Standing Committee in its report titled 'Judicial Processes and their Reform' of August, 2023". At the same time, the minister said the "Restatement of Values of Judicial Life", adopted by a "full court" meeting of the Supreme Court on May 7, 1997, laid down certain judicial standards to be followed by the Supreme Court and high court judges. The full bench on August

21% posts vacant in district courts, Govt needs to invest more: Ex-CJI

He also pointed out that this will require a constitutional amendment because, the recruitment and conditions of service of the judges to the district judiciary are, controlled by the governors

India may look to curb judges' arbitrary sentences for criminals

The pace of the trial and questions about the legal defence given to the accused fuelled concern among some rights advocates

SC appoints new judge: Who is Justice Prasanna Bhalachandra Varale?

Justice Varale, who is currently the Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court, was appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday

SC collegium recommends K'taka HC CJ Varale's elevation as top court judge

The Supreme Court collegium headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud on Friday recommended the elevation of Karnataka High Court Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale as a top court judge. In a meeting held on Friday, the collegium, also comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna, B R Gavai, Surya Kant and Aniruddha Bose, took into consideration the fact that he is among the senior-most High Court judges and is the only HC chief justice from the Scheduled Caste. "We are also conscious of the fact that at present, there are three Judges from the High Court of Bombay on the Bench of the Supreme Court. The Collegium, therefore, unanimously resolves to recommend that Mr Justice Prasanna B Varale be appointed as a Judge of the Supreme Court of India," the collegium said. The collegium took note of the vacancy that arose on the retirement of Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul on December 25, 2023. "Bearing in mind that the workload of judges has increased considerably, it has become necessary to ensure that the