Collegium Clears Names Of 3 New Judges To Supreme Court

The Collegium on Monday cleared the names of three judges for the Supreme Court. 

The names of three judges recommended for the elevation to Supreme Court include justices Satish Chandra Sharma, Augustine Masih and Sandeep Mehta.

Delhi high court chief justice Satish Chandra Sharma, Rajasthan high court chief justice Augustine George Masih and Guwahati high court chief justice Sandeep Mehta have been recommended for elevation to the Centre for Supreme Court judges, HT reported.

How Collegium clears names of judges to SC?

Article 124 (2) of the Constitution lays down the process to appoint judges to the higher judiciary: “Every Judge of the Supreme Court shall be appointed by the President after consultation with such of the judges of the Supreme Court and of the high courts in the states as the President may deem necessary for the purpose and shall hold office until he attains the age of 65 years: Provided that in the case of appointment of a judge other than the chief Justice, the Chief Justice of India shall always be consulted.”

Under the Collegium system, the Chief Justice of India and his foursenior-most colleagues make recommendations for the candidates to be appointed as SC and HC judges to the President.

This is because none of the four senior most judges will become the next CJI, and it is mandatory for the next CJI to be a part of the Collegium. Justice Sanjiv Khanna is therefore the 6th member of the Collegium right now who will succeed Chief Justice DY Chandrachud as the next CJI.

The recommendations by the Collegium for the Supreme Court can be of two types: One, when high court judges are to be elevated to the Supreme Court; and two, when senior lawyers are directly appointed as Supreme Court judges.

For appointments to the high courts, the Supreme Court Collegium consists of only 3 judges – The Chief Justice of India and two senior-most judges.

For appointments to the Supreme Court, the Collegium consists of five judges (right now six).

Like the Supreme Court, the high courts, too, have a Collegium, headed by the chief justice of the high court and two senior-most judges as members.

The high court Collegium sends its judicial appointments recommendation only to the Supreme Court Collegium.