Supreme Court Collegium's Membership Changes; Justices Gavai & Surya Kant New Members

The 5-judge Supreme Court Collegium has undergone a change following the retirement of Justices KM Joseph and Ajay Rastogi during the summer vacation.

Justices BR Gavai and Surya Kant are the new members of the 5-member collegium, which recommends to Centre names for appointment as judges of the Supreme Court.

Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Sanjiv Khanna are the other members of the collegium. Notably, Justices Khanna, Gavai and Kant are in line to be future CJIs. As per seniority, Justice Sanjiv Khanna is in line to succeed CJI DY Chandrachud as the Chief Justice of India in November 24. Justices Gavai and Surya Kant are in line to be the successors of Justice Khanna.

The recommendations for High Courts are made by a 3-member collegium comprising the CJI and the next two senior judges. Justice Sanjiv Khanna has become a member of the 3-member collegium after the retirement of Justice KM Joseph.

Justice Kaul, the second senior member of the collegium, will retire by the end of this year, on December 25. 

The Supreme Court, which has a working strength of 31 out of the sanctioned strength of 34 judges, will witness more vacancies this year. Justices Krishna Murari, S Ravindra Bhat and SK Kaul are set to retire in 2023.

The Supreme Court will reopen on July 3 after summer vacations. A new roster of work for judges in the Supreme Court was published earlier this week.