Behind the Composition of Collegium Picks

Of the 221 Judges Recommended, 167 Are from the General Category, 39 Are OBCs, 8 Are SCs and 7 Are STs

- Nishant Ranjan

NEW DELHI: On May 5, the Supreme Court of India published details of all 221 persons recommended for appointment as high court judges by the Supreme Court Collegium (SCC) between November 2022 and April 2025, of which 29 are pending approval from the government.

For the first time, the Court officially disclosed the caste and religion of each person recommended, along with their relation to sitting or retired high court/Supreme Court judges.

The data covers recommendations made under the tenure of two Chief Justices of India—Justice Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, who served from November 2022 to November 2024, and Justice Sanjiv Khanna, who took over in November 2024.

High court judges are appointed by the Supreme Court collegium, which includes the Chief Justice of India and two senior-most judges of the Supreme Court. During this period, the collegium led by Justice Chandrachud approved 170 of 303 proposed candidates, while the collegium under Justice Khanna approved 51 of 103.

Proposals to the collegium are made by the high court collegium comprising the chief justice of the HC and two senior-most judges.