Judges of the Supreme Court of India

In June 2026 the Supreme Court’s bench reached its highest strength ever. One of the five judges sworn in that day never served as a High Court judge at all.

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Judges of the Supreme Court of India

Appointment, eligibility, and who sits on the bench today

Retirement Age

65 yearsArticle 124(2)

Sanctioned Strength

38Raised from 34 in 2026

Current Filled

37 judgesAs of June 2026

Appointment

The President appoints judges under Article 124(2).
The President acts on the advice of the Collegium.
The Collegium is the CJI plus the four senior-most judges.
By convention, the senior-most sitting judge becomes CJI.

Eligibility

Must be a citizen of India.
A High Court judge for at least five years, OR
A High Court advocate for at least ten years, OR
A distinguished jurist, in the President’s opinion.

A Rare Third Path

Most Supreme Court judges rise through the High Courts. Direct elevation from the Bar as a distinguished jurist is constitutionally valid, but rarely used.

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📑 Contents

1Must Know
2Good to Know
3Current Affairs
4Test Yourself
5Great to Know

Must Know

The President formally appoints every Supreme Court judge, under Article 124(2).
The President acts on the advice of the Collegium, made up of the CJI and the four senior-most judges.
A judge must be a citizen of India, and either a High Court judge for five years, a High Court advocate for ten years, or a distinguished jurist.
A Supreme Court judge serves until the age of 65.
By convention, the senior-most sitting judge is appointed Chief Justice of India (CJI).

Good to Know

The Collegium system isn’t written in the Constitution. It developed through the “Three Judges Cases” (1982, 1993, 1998).
A 2014 law creating the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) tried to replace the Collegium. The Supreme Court struck it down in 2015. See Polity0273 — Article 124A: The National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) for how NJAC worked, and why the Court struck it down.
A judge can be removed only through impeachment, on grounds of proved misbehaviour or incapacity — see Polity0052 — The Supreme Court for the Court’s own powers and jurisdiction.

Current Affairs

As of June 2026, the Supreme Court reached its highest-ever strength, after Parliament raised its sanctioned size.

Full coverage: CA0005 — Five New Judges Appointed to the Supreme Court of India.

Parliament’s Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill, 2026 raised the Court’s sanctioned strength from 34 to 38 judges, including the CJI.
On 1 June 2026, the Union Government approved five new Supreme Court judges, following Collegium recommendations.
CJI Surya Kant administered the oath of office to all five, on 2 June 2026.
This took the Court’s filled strength to 37 judges — its highest ever, one short of the new 38-judge cap.
The five: Justice Sheel Nagu (then Chief Justice, Punjab and Haryana High Court), Justice Shree Chandrashekhar (then Chief Justice, Bombay High Court), Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva (then Chief Justice, Madhya Pradesh High Court), Justice Arun Palli (then Chief Justice, Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court), and V. Mohana, a Senior Advocate.
V. Mohana was elevated directly from the Bar. She did not serve as a High Court judge first, a rare route to the Supreme Court.
Her appointment strengthens women’s representation on the bench, alongside Justice B.V. Nagarathna.

Test Yourself

Great to Know

Justice M. Fathima Beevi became the Supreme Court’s first woman judge, appointed in 1989.
Justice K.G. Balakrishnan became India’s first Dalit Chief Justice, serving from January 2007 to May 2010.
As of 2026, Justice Surya Kant is the 53rd CJI, in office since 24 November 2025.
Any retired Supreme Court judge can be called back to sit and act as a judge. The Chief Justice of India does this, with the President’s prior consent, under Article 128. This power is unique to the Supreme Court — a High Court has no equivalent explicit constitutional power to review its own judgments the way the Supreme Court can under Article 137.
For the full mechanics of how a Supreme Court judge is actually removed, see Polity0352 — The Judge Impeachment Process.