Three new judges recommended for the Supreme Court

On 28 September 2026, the Supreme Court Collegium led by Chief Justice Surya Kant recommended the appointment of three judges to the Supreme Court, namely: Justices Sunita Agarwal, Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya, Aparesh Kumar Singh. All three are currently serving as Chief Justices at the Gujarat, Delhi and Telangana High Courts respectively. The Union is yet to notify their appointments.

Justice Agarwal is the second woman judge to be recommended by the CJI Surya Kant-led Collegium. No future Chief Justice of India was included in this batch of recommendations. 

Here’s a brief overview of each prospective appointee. 

Justice Sunita Agarwal 

Justice Agarwal has served as Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court for over three years since 23 July 2023. She practised for 21 years at the Allahabad High Court since December 1990 and was appointed as an Additional Judge on 21 November 2011. She took oath as a Permanent Judge on 6 August 2013. 

After serving at the Allahabad High Court for 12 years, Justice Sunita Agarwal was transferred and elevated as the Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court in Ahmedabad. She took over after the retirement of Chief Justice S.G. Gokani. 

Four out of the last five Chief Justices of the Gujarat High Court—Justices R. Subhash Reddy, Vikram Nath, Aravind Kumar, and Sunita Agarwal—were recommended and elevated to the Supreme Court. The only exception was Chief Justice Gokani. Interestingly, among the five, Justice Gokani was the only one whose parent High Court was Gujarat. 

If the appointment of Justice Agarwal is notified, the Supreme Court will have three women judges. 

Justice D.K. Upadhyaya 

Justice Upadhyaya is currently the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court. His career follows a similar trajectory as Justice Agarwal: He hails from the Allahabad High Court, was appointed as an Additional Judge on 21 November 2011 and took oath as a permanent judge on 6 August 2013. 

However, Justice Agarwal ranks higher in seniority as Justice Upadhyaya enrolled at the Bar in May 1991, five months after her enrolment. 

After close to a decade as a Judge of the Allahabad High Court, Justice Upadhyaya was elevated as Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court on 29 July 2023. He was subsequently appointed as the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court on 21 January 2025.

Two prior Chief Justices of the Delhi High Court were also elevated to the Supreme Court, namely: Justice Manmohan and Justice S.C. Sharma. 

Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh 

Justice A.K. Singh is the second judge from the Jharkhand High Court to be recommended for elevation by the CJI Surya Kant-led Collegium. The previous round of recommendations included Justice Shree Chandrashekhar who was, at the time, a year junior to Justice Singh. Interestly, his early appointment now makes him senior to Justice Singh. 

Justice Singh was appointed to the Jharkhand High Court on 24 January 2012. He then became a Permanent Judge on 16 January 2014. 

He has served as the Acting Chief Justice of the Jharkhand High Court, the Tripura High Court and the Telangana High Court, where he was appointed on 19 July 2025. Both Justices Hima Kohli and Ujjal Bhuyan were elevated to the Supreme Court after serving as Chief Justices of the Telangana High Court.