SC Collegium Recommends 4 HC CJs, Woman Advocates for SC Bench

By: Women Entrepreneurs Review Team | Thursday, 28 May 2026

The Supreme Court collegium has invited the appointments of Chief Justices in four high courts and has suggested a senior female advocate's elevation to the Supreme Court. Currently, there are 32 judges on the Supreme Court. The number of judges to be increased from 36 to 38 with the collegium's recommendations.

In its meeting held on May 22 and 27, the collegium approved the appointment of Justice Sheel Nagu, chief justice of 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 J&K & Ladakh High Court, and senior advocate V Mohana as judges of the Supreme Court.

Mohana, who hails from Tamil Nadu, would be only the second woman lawyer, practicing in the apex court to get a direct elevation to the Supreme Court, if the Centre approves the recommendations.

Key Highlights:

• SC collegium recommends 5 new Supreme Court judges, including senior advocate V Mohana
• V Mohana may become the second woman lawyer directly elevated to the apex court
• Supreme Court pendency crosses 92,000 cases amid rising judicial backlog

Justice Indu Malhotra is the first female Senior Advocate and first woman Supreme Court judge who was directly appointed previously.

Three women judges, Hima Kohli, Bela M. Trivedi and B. V. Nagarathna have been promoted to the top court in 2021.

The Justices were – Justice Nagu (MP HC), Justice Chandrashekhar (Jharkhand HC), Justice Sachdeva (Delhi HC) and Justice Palli (Punjab and Haryana HC).

Senior advocate V Mohana will be one of the judges of the Supreme Court if the Centre approves, when the top court has only one woman judge, Justice BV Nagarathna.

Since August 2021, there has not been a woman judge on the Supreme Court. Mohana's elevation will have a positive impact on gender representation in the judiciary.

There are 32 judges at present in the Supreme Court. There are two more positions to be filled in June after the retirement of Justices JK Maheshwari and Pankaj Mithal.

At the same time, the Union Cabinet on May 5 sanctioned 37 appointments to the Supreme Court, up from its current 33.

A similar bill is likely to be introduced in the upcoming session of Parliament, by the government. After the amendment to the 1956 law comes into effect, the Collegium will be able to recommend additional appointments.

Parliament can augment the number of judges in the Supreme Court under Article 124(1) of the Constitution.

The transfer is coinciding with an increasing number of pending cases in courts around the country.

The Supreme Court has 92,385 pending cases, according to official data. Post Covid-19, the number of pending matters has multiplied considerably with an increase in e-filing.

The Centre had told the Rajya Sabha in December 2025 that over 5.49 crore cases are currently pending in various courts in India, including more than 90,000 cases pending in the Supreme Court, and over 63 lakh cases pending in the 25 High Courts across the country.