46% of SC judges were members | The Collegium story, part 1

Eighty nine judges of the Supreme Court have been members of the Collegium since it was first established three decades ago, in the Second Judges’ Case (1993). This means that nearly half of the 192 judges—46 per cent—who served in the top court during this period, participated in its deliberations and decisions.

Led by the Chief Justice, the Collegium is a rotating body of the senior-most judges of the Supreme Court and is responsible for recommending names for appointments to the higher judiciary. The composition of the Collegium changes when a member judge retires.

Lack of public information

Despite the importance of the Collegium to the functioning of the higher judiciary, the Court did not maintain a public record of its membership, meetings or resolutions prior to 2017. Media reporting about the Collegium and its appointments had to rely on estimates and individual analysis, rather than official data and confirmed facts.

When the Supreme Court Observer filed an RTI application seeking information about the Collegium from this time period, it was declined by the Registrar of the Supreme Court on the grounds that data had to be collated from across multiple files and would require a “disproportionate diversion of resources of the public authority.”

In a boost to transparency, Collegium resolutions were made publicly available on the Supreme Court website two months into the tenure of CJI Dipak Misra in October 2017. Resolutions were published along with stated “reasons” and the names of all the sitting members of the Collegium at the time. This granted researchers reliable data on Collegium membership for the first time, allowing new lines of study and analysis. CJI Ranjan Gogoi continued this practice, but it has not been consistently followed by the CJIs that succeeded them.

For instance, Collegium resolutions released during CJI D.Y. Chandrachud’s tenure contained detailed reasons as well as member names but this was discontinued during the tenure of CJIs Sanjiv Khanna and B.R. Gavai. Since 28 November 2024, Collegium resolutions uploaded by the Supreme Court do not include the names of the Collegium members or the reasoning behind recommendations made. 

As a result, there is no single source of authoritative data on the membership of the Collegium over the years, and even the information made available by the Supreme Court is limited and regrettably incomplete. 

A complete dataset 

To bridge this gap, we bring you the first publicly available dataset on Collegium membership in Supreme Court history, including for the period prior to 2017. For ease of reference, each Collegium is defined by the term of the Chief Justice who headed it. 

Note: This dataset was developed based on logical reasoning and reverse calculating the strength of the Court. It is prone to human error. Any feedback or information to improve the dataset would be greatly appreciated. Please write to us at admin@scobserver.in. 

Click here for a PDF view.

For instance, the first Collegium was led by CJI M.N. Venkatachaliah between 6 October 1993 (the date of the Second Judges Case) and 24 October 1994 (the date of his retirement). At the time, it consisted of only the CJI and the top two senior most puisne judges.


On 25 October 1994, CJI A.M. Ahmadi assumed office and led the Collegium until his retirement on 23 March 1997. In that period, a total of four judges participated in the body, as Justice M.M. Punchhi became the second senior most puisne judge upon Justice Kuldip Singh’s retirement in December 1996.

The fifth Collegium was led by CJI A.S. Anand for a period of three years. Within a month of its constitution, it was expanded by the Third Judges Case on 28 October 1998 to a body of five senior most judges of the apex court. This instantly brought Justices S.B. Majumdar and Sujata V. Manohar (the first woman judge on the Collegium) into the fold.

CJI K.G. Balakrishnan led the Collegium for the longest period from 14 January 2007 to 12 May 2010. He was the second longest serving Chief Justice after CJI Y.V. Chandrachud. Several changes took place under his leadership and by the time of his retirement, all four senior most puisne judges who served with him in 2007 had retired and been replaced by others junior to them.

The 17th Collegium had an unusual number of changes in membership within a very short period of time. Three judges retired and were replaced within a span of two months, and Justice S.S. Nijjar participated in the Collegium for only three days.

As mentioned above, it was during CJI Misra’s term that the Court began to publish Collegium resolutions. The composition of this Collegium can thus be verified with Collegium resolution dt. 16 July 2018.

The composition of this Collegium can be verified with Collegium resolutions from October 2018 and January, April, May and August 2019.

The composition of this Collegium can be verified with Collegium resolutions from January, May, July and November 2023 and from January and July 2024. 

Justice Sanjiv Khanna (as he was then) was included as a sixth member of the Collegium during CJI D.Y. Chandrachud’s tenure. This is done when the four senior-most judges do not include a successor for the post of the CJI. We may presume that Justice Khanna joined the Collegium in November 2022.

It was only with Justice M.R. Shah’s retirement on 15 May 2023, the Collegium was restored to a body of five members.

As of 23 November 2025, the Collegium has been led by CJI Surya Kant and includes Justices Vikram Nath, J.K. Maheshwari, B.V. Nagarathna and M.M. Sundresh.

No new appointments have been made by the Collegium so far. It is set to change on 28 June 2026 with the retirement of Justice Maheshwari who will be replaced by Justice P.S. Narasimha.