Supreme Court Collegium Recommends 5 Names Including Senior Advocate V. Mohana For Elevation

In a significant move, the Supreme Court Collegium has recommended the elevation of five individuals to the Supreme Court, including four sitting High Court Chief Justices and senior advocate V. Mohana. The recommendation was made during Collegium meetings held on May 22 and May 27.

The recommended names include Justice Sheel Nagu, presently Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Justice Shree Chandrashekhar, Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court, Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva, Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, and Justice Arun Palli, Chief Justice of the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh.

Senior Advocate V. Mohana has also been recommended for elevation to the apex court. Her appointment is expected to improve women’s representation in the Supreme Court, which currently has only one woman judge, Justice BV Nagarathna.

The recommendation comes at a time when the sanctioned strength of the Supreme Court was recently increased from 34 to 38 judges, including the Chief Justice of India. Despite the increase, the Court is presently functioning with 32 judges.

The vacancies are also expected to rise further with the upcoming retirements of Justice JK Maheshwari and Justice Pankaj Mithal in June. The Collegium’s latest recommendations are likely aimed at addressing the shortage of judges in the apex court and ensuring smoother judicial functioning.

The elevation of V. Mohana has drawn particular attention because no woman judge has been appointed to the Supreme Court since August 2021. Her recommendation is being seen as an important development towards improving gender diversity in the higher judiciary.

All five recommendations will now be sent to the Union government for approval. Once cleared, the appointments will formally strengthen the Supreme Court bench, which handles some of the country’s most important constitutional and legal matters.