Centre clears appointment of Chief Justices of four HCs, woman advocate as Supreme Court judges

New Delhi: The Centre has cleared the Supreme Court Collegium's recommendation for appointments of Chief Justices of four High Courts and a woman senior advocate as judges of the top court.

In a post on X, Union Minister of State for Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal informed, "In exercise of the power conferred by clause (2) of Article 124 of the Constitution, the President of India, after consultation with Chief Justice of India, is pleased to appoint five judges of the Supreme Court of India. I convey my best wishes to them".

In its meetings held on May 22 and 27, the collegium led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant approved the appointment of Justice Sheel Nagu, 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; Justice Arun Palli, Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court, and senior advocate V Mohana as judges of the Supreme Court.

Justice Nagu hails from Madhya Pradesh HC, Justice Chandrashekhar from Jharkhand HC, Justice Sachdeva from Delhi HC and Justice Palli from Punjab and Haryana High Court.

Mohana, who comes from Tamil Nadu, is only the second woman lawyer, practising in the Supreme Court to get a direct elevation to the Supreme Court.

Previously, Justice Indu Malhotra was the first woman senior advocate who was directly appointed as a Supreme Court judge.

It was only in 2021 when three woman judges — Justices Hima Kohli, Bela M Trivedi and B V Nagarathna — were elevated.

The apex court at present has 32 judges. With the fresh appointments, the number of judges has risen to 37, including the Chief Justice of India.