The appointment of the two new judges to the Supreme Court of India a notification of which was issued by the Union government on Wednesday are: Bombay HC Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Patna HC Chief Justice Vipul M. Pancholi. However, the appointments are in the face of a significant note of dissent by Justice BV Nagarathna who is the only female in the five-judge collegium. In a long concurring note, Justice Nagarathna cautioned that such promotion of Justice Pancholi can be counter-productive to the work of administration of justice and otherwise can affect the credibility of the collegium system.
On his appointment, Justice Pancholi is supposed to be on track of becoming the Chief Justice of India (CJI) in a tenure of approximately two years and two months starting May 2031 after the retirement of Justice Joymalya Bagchi who had become a judge in May 2030. On X, the appointment was announced by Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal saying that the elevations were approved by the President, in consultation with the Chief Justice of India, and that both the chief justices can take their oath as Supreme Court judges.
The notification was itself made within 48 hours of the collegium resolving. Interestingly, the resolution posted on the SC site did not indicate that four of the five judges had voted in favor of the elevation of Justice Pancholi Hindustan making it 4-1. She had already registered her objections in May when the matter was firstmentioned and repeated in her most recent note her belief that proceeding to the appointment in the face of fundamental reservations would at least reflect negatively on the institutional credibility.
Among Justice Nagarathna highlights of her objection is against Justice Pancholi, who was transferred by the government in July 2023; his place is Gujarat High Court, and Justice Pancholi is posted in Patna High Court. She made it clear though that the move was not a matter of routine transfer but the product of mature deliberation. Several high court judges in Gujarat, according to her dissent, knew the participants in the case.
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