Centre clears appointment of 5 new Supreme Court judges; here is who they are

The Central government has cleared the appointment of four High Court Chief Justices and Senior Advocate V Mohana as judges of the Supreme Court.

The development was shared on X (formerly Twitter) by Union Minister of State (in charge) of Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal this morning.

The appointments come days after the sanctioned strength of the Supreme Court was increased from 34 to 38 through an ordinance issued by the government. With the five new appointments, 37 positions in the top court now stand filled.

Along with Mohana, the new appointees are Justice Sheel Nagu (Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court), Justice Shree Chandrashekhar (Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court), Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva (Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court), and Justice Arun Palli (Chief Justice of the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh).

The recommendation to elevate the appointees was made by the Supreme Court Collegium headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant last week.

Here’s a closer look at the five new judges:

Justice Sheel Nagu

Before his elevation to the top court, Justice Sheel Nagu served as Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. His parent High Court is Madhya Pradesh.

Born on January 1, 1965, Justice Nagu enrolled as an advocate in October 1987 and practised primarily in civil, constitutional and service matters. He was appointed an additional judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court in May 2011 and became a permanent judge in May 2013.

He later served as the acting Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court before taking oath as Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in July 2024.

During his tenure at the Madhya Pradesh High Court, Justice Nagu passed several notable orders concerning environmental concerns, privacy and personal liberty.

Pertinently, Justice Nagu was also a member of the in-house inquiry committee that examined the cash-at-residence controversy involving Justice Yashwant Varma, one of the most consequential judicial accountability proceedings in recent years.

He will retire from the Supreme Court on December 31, 2029.

Justice Shree Chandrashekhar

Justice Chandrashekar has been serving as the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court. His parent High Court is Jharkhand.

Born in Ranchi on May 25, 1965, he completed his law degree from Campus Law Centre, Delhi University, and enrolled with the Delhi Bar Council in 1993. After nearly two decades of practice, he was elevated as an additional judge of the Jharkhand High Court in January 2013 and became a permanent judge in June 2014.

He later served as the acting Chief Justice of the Jharkhand High Court before being transferred to the Rajasthan High Court and subsequently elevated as Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court in September 2025.

Justice Chandrashekhar was also part of the Parliamentary Judges Inquiry Committee constituted to examine allegations against Justice Yashwant Varma.

His benches have also dealt with several high-profile matters including the Sohrabuddin Shaikh fake encounter case, the Malegaon blasts case and litigation relating to the Versova–Bhayandar coastal road project.

His elevation is also significant as Jharkhand currently has no representation in the Supreme Court. He will retire on May 24, 2030.

Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva

Justice Sachdeva has been serving as Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court. His parent High Court is Delhi.

Born on December 26, 1964, Justice Sachdeva graduated from Sri Ram College of Commerce and Campus Law Centre, Delhi University. He qualified as an Advocate-on-Record in the Supreme Court in 1995 and was designated a Senior Advocate by the Delhi High Court in 2011.

He was appointed an additional judge of the Delhi High Court in April 2013 and became a permanent judge in March 2015. He was transferred to the Madhya Pradesh High Court in 2024 and later took oath as its Chief Justice in July 2025.

Justice Sachdeva earlier served as standing counsel for the Bar Council of India for over two decades and also headed a National Court Management Systems sub-committee relating to human resource development in the judiciary.

He will have a tenure of around three-and-a-half years in the Supreme Court.

Justice Arun Palli

Justice Palli has been serving as Chief Justice of the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh. His parent High Court is Punjab and Haryana.

Born in Patiala on September 18, 1964, Justice Palli graduated in law from Panjab University in 1988 and practised extensively before the Punjab and Haryana High Court. He served as Additional Advocate General for Punjab between 2004 and 2007 and was designated a Senior Advocate in 2007.

He was elevated as a judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in December 2013 and later took oath as Chief Justice of the Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court in April 2025.

Justice Palli also served as Executive Chairman of the Haryana State Legal Services Authority and oversaw several mediation and Lok Adalat initiatives aimed at clearing long-pending disputes.

He will have a tenure of a little over three years in the apex court.

Senior Advocate V Mohana

Senior Advocate V Mohana has become only the second woman in India’s history to be directly elevated from the Bar to the Supreme Court after Justice Indu Malhotra in 2018.

Along with Justice BV Nagarathna, she will be one of only two sitting women judges of the Supreme Court.

Born on June 27, 1966, Mohana hails from Coimbatore and graduated from Coimbatore Law College in 1988. She trained under Senior Advocate CS Vaidyanathan, became an advocate-on-record at the Supreme Court in 1996 and was designated a Senior Advocate by the Supreme Court in 2015.

Interestingly, she was a classmate of sitting Supreme Court Justice KV Viswanathan and also worked alongside him in the office of former Attorney General for India KK Venugopal.

She has appeared in several significant cases before the apex court, including litigation concerning permanent commission for women officers in the armed forces, senior citizens’ property rights and the Karnataka hijab ban case.

Her appointment will also make her the 12th woman judge in the history of the Supreme Court. Because she is being elevated directly from the Bar, she will have a relatively long tenure of nearly five years and retire in June 2031.