DESK BRIEF: For 2 brief years, the collegium used to publish reasons for recommending appointments and transfers of judges.

While the number of woman judges at the SC has increased, the time they will spend on the bench is low.

With no fixed rules about it, and the recent appointment of nine new judges, regional representation in the Supreme Court has changed.

Besides these informal conventions, religious diversity has not been a major criteria for appointments to the Supreme Court.

After the appointment of the first Dalit judge in 1980, this is the first time that two Dalit judges are serving simultaneously.

Seniority is an important consideration for recommendations to the Supreme Court, and there is now an all-India list indicating the same.

Integrity appears the second highest number of times as a criterion mentioned in collegium resolutions, but only twice for specific judges.

What are the criteria for appointing SC judges? Recent collegium resolutions have been taking a need for 'due representation' into account.

There is no legally mandated or publicly declared merit criterion for the appointment of judges.

Collegium has released thirteen resolutions regarding Supreme Court judges' appointments since October 2017.

The judiciary appoints its own judges - a common source of conflict with the executive. But what does the process entail?

The appointments include three women and one advocate directly elevated from the Bar. B.V. Nagarathna is likely to be the first woman CJI.