Supreme Court Collegium headed by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana has reportedly recommended nine names to the Central government on Tuesday for appointment as judges of the top court.
Out of the same, three are women judges. They are Justices Hima Kohli, BV Nagarathna and Bela Trivedi.
If the recommendations are cleared, Justice Nagarathna could become the first woman Chief Justice of India.
Bar & Bench has confirmed the names of the nine who have been recommended for elevation.
The minutes of the Collegium meeting, however, remain unsigned at the time of publishing this report.
The following are the judges recommended for elevation:
Women judges:
- Chief Justice of Telangana High Court, Justice Hima Kohli
- Karnataka High Court judge, Justice BV Nagarathna (could become the first woman Chief Justice of India)
- Gujarat High Court judge, Justice Bela Trivedi
From Bar:
- Senior Advocate PS Narasimha
High Court judges and Chief Justices:
- Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court, Justice AS Oka
- Chief Justice of Gujarat High Court, Justice Vikram Nath
- Chief Justice of Sikkim High Court, Justice JK Maheshwari
- Kerala High Court judge, Justice CT Ravikumar
- Madras High Court Judge, Justice MM Sundresh
Out of the nine, three - Justices Vikram Nath and BV Nagarathna and Senior Advocate PS Narasimha will go on to become the Chief Justice of India.
Narasimha, if cleared for appointment by the Central government, will be the ninth lawyer to be appointed directly from the Bar to the Supreme Court.
The recommendation has come after Justice Rohinton Nariman retired from the Supreme Court, who was a Collegium member since March 2019, retired from the Supreme Court on August 12.
After his retirement, Justice L Nageswara Rao entered the Collegium.
The Collegium could earlier not reach a consensus due to Justice Nariman remaining steadfast on recommending two most senior judges in the all-India seniority list – Karnataka High Court Chief Justice Abhay Oka and Tripura High Court Chief Justice Akil Kureshi, the Indian Express reported.
Apart from CJI Ramana, the five-member Collegium currently consists of Justices UU Lalit, AM Khanwilkar, DY Chandrachud and L Nageswara Rao.
The Supreme Court is currently functioning with nine vacancies which will rise to ten today with the retirement of Justice Navin Sinha.