collegium-recommends-2-justices-for-elevation-to-sc

In a key measure, the Supreme Court Collegium has recommended the elevation of Patna High Court Chief Justice Vipul Manubhai Pancholi to the Supreme Court.

 

If his name gets cleared by the Central government, Justice Pancholi will have a long tenure of nearly 8 years at the Supreme Court.

He will also become the Chief Justice of India (CJI) in October 2031, upon the retirement of Justice Joymalya Bagchi, a post which he will occupy for more than 1.5 years.

 

He will also be the third sitting Supreme Court judge whose parent High Court is the Gujarat High Court. Currently, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice NV Anjaria also hail from Gujarat, with the former also slated to serve as CJI from May 2028 to August 2030.Justice Pancholi was born on May 28, 1968. He joined the Bar in September 1991 and started practice as an advocate in the Gujarat High Court. He was elevated as an additional judge of the Gujarat High Court on October 1, 2014 and confirmed as a permanent judge on June 10, 2016.

He was transferred to Patna in July 2023.

 

If elevated to the top court, he will serve till May 27, 2033, retiring as CJI. The Supreme Court Collegium has also recommended the elevation of Bombay High Court Chief  as judges of the top court.The recommendation was made by the Collegium comprising Chief Justice BR Gavai and Justices Surya Kant, Vikram Nath, JK Maheshwari and BV Nagarathna. Justice Aradhe was appointed as an additional judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court in 2009. He was made a permanent judge in 2011. 

 

He was transferred to the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir in 2016 and served as its Acting Chief Justice for 3 months in 2018.

After that, he took oath as a judge of the Karnataka High Court on November 17, 2018 and served as its acting Chief Justice for a few months in 2022. In July 2023, he was appointed as Chief Justice of the Telangana High Court.He was then transferred to the Bombay High Court as its Chief Justice in January 2025 where he currently serves. The Supreme Court, which has a sanctioned strength of 34, is currently functioning with 32 judges, a vacancy position of 2.