Supreme Court Publishes Appointment Process Of Judges, Details Of Collegium Recommendations From Nov 2022

The Supreme Court on May 5 uploaded the complete process of appointments of Judges to the High Court and the Supreme Court on its website for the knowledge and awareness of the public.

The proposals approved by the Supreme Court Collegium for appointments as High Court Judges during the period 9th November 2022 to 5th May 2025, including the names, High Court, source – whether from Service or Bar, date of recommendation by the Supreme Court Collegium, date of notification by Department of Justice, date of appointment, special category (SC/ST/OBC/Minority/Woman), and whether the candidate is related to any sitting or retired High Court/Supreme Court Judge, have also been uploaded on the Supreme Court website.

Broad factors considered for High Court Judges.

• 2/3rd posts for Members of Bar and 1/3 posts for Judicial Officers.

• Merit and integrity as the prime criteria.

• Candidates from the Bar– Age between 45- 55 years, on the date of recommendation (relaxation may be made if the person is otherwise of outstanding merit).

• Advocate should be an income tax assessee for the preceding 10 years, if not exempted from paying income tax.

• Average net professional income– minimum Rs. 7 lakhs per annum during the preceding five years.

• Adequate number of reported judgments.

• Pro-bono work of the Advocates in the courts.

• Performance of the advocates in the courts.

• Age for Judicial Officers – Within 58½ years on the date when the vacancy arises.

• Due weightage to inter se seniority of Judicial Officers.

• Social diversity and representation to women and other marginalized sections of the society.

Criteria for assessment of judgments (applicable to judicial officers):

• Command over language

• Marshalling of facts and issues

• Reasoning for conclusion

• Appreciation of evidence

• Knowledge of procedural and substantive law

• Application of law with reference to precedents

Chart showing the steps

Factors to be taken into consideration for Supreme Court Judges :

• Appointment by elevation of a Chief Justice or a Judge of the High Court or an eminent member of the Bar or a distinguished jurist.

• In case of elevation of a Chief Justice or a Judge of the High Court, a fair representation to be given to all the High Courts.

• Inter se seniority among the High Court Judges.

• Merit and integrity.

• The disposition rate of the Judge under consideration, while in the High Court.

• Disposition Rate should be considered in conjunction with other factors, such as the quality of judgments, complexity of cases, and court workload.

 Performance Appraisal Template

The documents also show the specimen samples of the IB reports, collegium resolutions, bio-data etc.

Details of appointments from 9th November 2022 to 5th May 2025

According to the details, out of 303 candidates, the Supreme Court Collegium approved 170 appointments for High Courts, including 7 judges from Scheduled Castes, 5 from the Scheduled Tribes, 21 from the OBC, 28 women, 23 minorities, and 12 related to judges and 7 from the most backward classes.

From Nov 2024 to May 5 (during CJI Sanjiv Khanna's term), the Supreme Court Collegium approved 51 appointments for High Courts out of 103 candidates. Out of 51, 11 belong to OBC, 1 belongs to Scheduled Caste, 2 belong to Scheduled Tribes, 8 are from Minorities, 6 are women and 2 are related to the sitting or retired judge of HC/SC

From the 170 recommendations made between Nov 2022 to Nov 2024, 17 are still pending before the Government. From the 51 recommendations from Nov, 2024 to May 5, 12 names are still pending with the Government.

Details of the recommendations processed by the Supreme Court Collegium from November 2022 to May 2025 can be found here.

The appointment process of High Court Judges can be found here

The appointment process of the CJI and Supreme Court Judges can be found here.

Also read - In A Historic First, Supreme Court Publishes Declaration Of Judges' Assets On Website