The Supreme Court Collegium has proposed the appointment of four High Court Chief Justices and one Senior Advocate as judges of the Supreme Court. Those recommended for elevation are Justice Sheel Nagu, Justice Shree Chandrashekhar, Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva, Justice Arun Palli and Senior Advocate V Mohana. The recommendations were finalised during Collegium meetings held on May 22 and May 27. If approved by the Central government, Mohana will become only the tenth lawyer to be elevated directly from the Bar to the Supreme Court. She will also be the second woman to receive such an appointment after former Supreme Court judge Justice Indu Malhotra.
Justice Sheel Nagu is presently the Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. His parent High Court is Madhya Pradesh. He was also part of the in-house inquiry committee that looked into the cash-at-residence controversy involving Justice Yashwant Varma, a significant judicial accountability matter. Justice Shree Chandrashekhar, who currently heads the Bombay High Court, belongs to the Jharkhand High Court. Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva, the Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, comes from the Delhi High Court.
Justice Arun Palli is serving as the Chief Justice of the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. His parent High Court is the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Senior Advocate V Mohana practises before the Supreme Court and has appeared in major cases, including the landmark litigation relating to permanent commission for women officers in the Indian Army. Her proposed elevation, if cleared, would be a rare instance of a lawyer being appointed directly to the country’s highest court. The sanctioned strength of the Supreme Court was recently increased from 34 judges to 38. At present, the court is functioning with 32 judges.