With the retirement of Justice KM Joseph and Justice Ajay Rastogi, five-judge collegium of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice of India, Justice DY Chandrachud will now have Justice BR Gavai and Justice Surya Kant as its new members.
Justice Joseph and Justice Rastogi had retired on June 16 and June 17 respectively, during the top court’s summer vacation.
Besides CJI Chandrachud, the revamped collegium now includes Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Justice BR Gavai and Justice Surya Kant. Justice Khanna, Justice Gavai and Justice Surya Kant will go on to become the Chief Justice of India one after the other.
Justice Khanna will succeed incumbent Chief Justice Chandrachud when he retires on November 10, 2024. Justice Gavai will succeed Justice Khanna when he (Justice Khanna) retires on May 13, 2025 and Justice Surya Kant will take over as CJI on November 24, 2025, when Justice Gavai demits office on November 23, 2025.
The collegium is faced with the task of selecting and recommending five names to fill two already existing slots with the retirement of Justice Joseph and Justice Rastogi. Justice V Ramasubramanian is retiring tomorrow (June 29).
The retirement of Justice Ramasubramanian will be followed by Justice Krishna Murari demitting office on July 8, 2023, and Justice S Ravindra Bhat retiring on October 20,2023. Justice Kaul will retire later this year on December 25, 2023.
The top court has a sanctioned strength of 34 judges, as of now, with the retirement of Justice Joseph and Justice Rastogi, there are two vacancies. Another will arise tomorrow with Justice Ramasubramanian demitting office. Thus, there will be three vacancies to be filled up for the top court to have its full sanctioned strength of 34 judges.