Court Data
Justice J.K. Maheshwari: Tenure in numbers
Justice Maheshwari authored 171 judgements during his 4.8-year tenure, averaging 43 judgements a year
Justice J.K. Maheshwari will retire from the Supreme Court on 28 June 2026 after serving a tenure of 4.8 years. Elevated to the Supreme Court on 31 August 2021, he was among five others appointed on the same day, including Justices Vikram Nath and B.V. Nagarathna. Prior to his elevation, he served as Chief Justice of the Andhra Pradesh and the Sikkim High Courts, and as a judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court.
Justice Maheshwari’s retirement comes less than two weeks after Justice Pankaj Mithal demitted office.
Tenure at the Supreme Court
Figure 1 plots the expected tenure of all sitting judges of the Supreme Court. Justice Maheshwari’s tenure of 4.8 years falls marginally below the average tenure of five years.
He has the shortest tenure among the five judges in his cohort. Remaining members of the August 2021 batch are expected to serve between 5.9 and 6.7 years.
Among the other sitting judges, Justice J.B. Pardiwala is expected to serve the longest tenure at 8.3 years, followed by Justice K.V. Viswanathan at 8 years.
Number of judgements authored
Figure 2 highlights the total judgements authored (blue bar) by judges who have served more than two years at the Supreme Court. The green bar highlights the annual average of judgements authored by each judge.
Justice Maheshwari authored 171 judgements during his tenure, averaging 43 judgements a year.
Among the August 2021 appointees, Justice Nagarathna authored the highest number of judgements (366) with an annual average of 91. Justice Nath follows with 303 judgements and an annual average of 76, while Justice P.S. Narasimha has authored 218 judgements at an annual average of 55.
Justice Maheshwari’s output places him ahead of Justice M.M. Sundresh, who authored 132 judgements at an annual average of 33
Year-wise breakdown
Figure 3 provides an annual breakdown of judgements authored by Justice Maheshwari, the number of benches he participated in and his rate of authorship. The rate of authorship refers to the percentage of benches for which he authored the judgement.
Justice Maheshwari recorded his highest output in 2022, when he authored 54 judgements while participating in 84 benches. That year also marked his highest authorship rate at 64.3 per cent.
While his bench participation gradually declined over the course of his tenure, his authorship rate remained above 50 per cent in all but one year. The exception was 2025, when he authored judgements in 48.6 per cent of the benches he participated in.
In the first six months of 2026, Justice Maheshwari authored 28 judgements from 46 benches, recording an authorship rate of 60.9 per cent. Overall, he authored judgements in 56 per cent of the benches he was part of.
Subject-matter breakdown
Justice Maheshwari authored a majority of his judgements in service matters (51). Criminal matters formed the second-largest category with 30 judgements, followed by civil matters (24) and motor vehicle cases (18).
He also authored a notable number of judgements concerning contempt of court (15) and direct taxation (12). Tenancy and property disputes accounted for 6 judgements each, while family law matters accounted for 5.
The remaining judgements were spread across a wide range of subjects, including labour and industrial disputes, land acquisition, constitutional law, and arbitration.
Note: The data cited in this article was sourced from Manupatra on 24 June 2026.