SC Collegium recommends 9 lawyers for appointment as J&K and Ladakh High Court judges; drops former AG's name

The Supreme Court Collegium has recommended the appointment of nine lawyers, including a woman, as judges of the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh.

The decision was taken during the Collegium meeting held on October 29, Thursday.

As per the Collegium statement published on the Supreme Court website, the persons recommended for appointment are:

- Vishal Sharma;

- Vikram Kumar Sharma;

- Namgyal Wangchuk;

- Pawan Kumar Kundal;

- Tahir Majid Shamsi;

- Tabasum Zafar;

- Amit Gupta;

- Pranav Kohli;

- Anupam Raina.

Among the nine, advocates Namgyal Wangchuk hails from Ladakh, giving representation to the Union Territory in the proposed judicial appointments.

The inclusion of advocate Tabasum Zafar is also noteworthy. If her appointment is formally cleared, she would become the first Kashmiri woman lawyer to be appointed as a judge of the High Court.

The High Court Collegium, headed by the then Chief Justice Arun Palli, had recommended eleven names in April 2026, comprising ten advocates under the Bar quota and one judicial officer under the bench quota.

However, the Supreme Court Collegium has now approved only nine out of the ten advocates recommended under the Bar quota. The name of Senior Advocate Jahangir Iqbal Ganai, former Advocate General of Jammu & Kashmir (June 2016–July 2018), does not figure in the approved list.

The Collegium has not disclosed any reason for not approving his name.

The judicial officer recommended by the High Court Collegium under the Bench quota, Yash Paul Bourney, had separately received the Supreme Court Collegium’s approval on September 10 and his appointment was notified by the Union Government on September 19.

The High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh has a sanctioned strength of 25 Judges, comprising 19 permanent and six additional Judges.

The High Court currently has 14 working judges, leaving 11 vacancies. The nine proposed appointments would constitute a substantial step towards filling the vacancies.

[Read Collegium Statement]