Members of the Supreme Court Collegium as of May 2025

Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna retired on 13 May 2025, ushering in Justice B.R. Gavai’s tenure as CJI. Justice Gavai now heads the Supreme Court Collegium. With CJI Khanna’s retirement, Justice J.K. Maheshwari joins the Collegium. 

But in the six months that he’ll be Chief, the Collegium will change shape once more, with the retirement of Justice A.S. Oka on 24 May 2025. He will be replaced by Justice B.V. Nagarathna. 

Until Justice Oka’s retirement, the Collegium comprises CJI Gavai, Justices Surya Kant, Oka, Vikram Nath, and Maheshwari.

The current Collegium: Tenure, Supreme Court appointments

Justices Gavai and Kant have been part of the Collegium since 5 July 2023. They were involved in the appointment of 11 judges. Justice Gavai will lead the Collegium till his retirement on 23 November 2025. Justice Kant will inherit this role and remain in the Collegium until 9 February 2027. 

Justice Oka joined the Collegium in November 2024, with CJI D.Y. Chandrachud’s retirement. He has been a part of appointing two judges. He served as a member of the Collegium for six months.

Justice Nath joined the Collegium in early February 2025, after Justice Hrishikesh Roy’s retirement. He has been involved in the appointment of one Judge to the Supreme Court so far—Justice Joymalya Bagchi. He will be in the Collegium till his retirement on 24 September 2027.

Justice Maheswari, the latest entrant, will remain in the Collegium till his retirement on 28 June 2026. 

Gender and the Collegium

With Justice Oka’s retirement in six days, Justice Nagarathna will join the Collegium. On 25 September 2027, she will become India’s first woman Chief Justice and will lead the collegium for 36 days. She will retire on 30 October 2027. 

There have only been three women in the Supreme Court Collegium so far. Justice Nagarathna will be the fourth and longest serving woman judge on the panel. The Supreme Court has had 11 woman judges in its 75 years so far. 

In 2003, Justice Ruma Pal became the first woman to be part of the Collegium. She served from 2003 till her retirement on 2 June 2006. 16 years later, Justice R. Banumathi served on the Collegium from 17 November 2019 to 19 July 2020. Justice Indira Banerjee was the third woman to be on the Supreme Court Collegium and served less than a month between 26 August 2022 to 23 September 2022. 

Opportunities for the Collegium

Diversity of region, religion, caste and gender are key considerations of the Collegium apart from the seniority of judges in the High Courts. The Supreme Court currently has three vacancies, with one long standing vacant seat and the recent retirements of CJI Khanna and Justice B.M. Trivedi. After Justice Oka’s retirement there will be four vacancies. 

The Supreme Court currently has one Christian Judge (Justice A.G. Masih), one Muslim Judge (Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah), two Dalit Judges (Justices Gavai and P.B. Varale) and one woman judge (Justice Nagarathna). Seven High Courts do not have any representation at the top Court. This includes the Sikkim, Telangana, Tripura, Meghalaya, Orissa, Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, and Jharkhand High Courts.