Supreme Court at full sanctioned strength of 34 judges; Justice BV Nagarathna sole woman on the Bench

With Justices Alok Aradhe and Vipul Pancholi sworn in as Supreme Court judges today, the the apex court is now functioning at its full sanctioned strength of 34 judges.

Among the 34, only one woman has a seat on the bench of the Supreme Court of India - Justice BV Nagarathna - who is slated to become the first woman Chief Justice of India.

The recommendation to elevate Justices Aradhe and Pancholi to the Supreme Court was made by the Collegium comprising Chief Justice of India BR Gavai and Justices Surya Kant, Vikram Nath, JK Maheshwari, and BV Nagarathna. Their appointment was cleared by the Central government on August 27.

The appointment of Justice Pancholi in has been cause for much debate, especially in legal circles, as Justice Pancholi is only 57th in the list of seniority of High Court judges.

As a member of the Collegium, Justice Nagarathna dissented against Justice Pancholi's elevation. She reportedly opined that his appointment would not only be “counter-productive” to the administration of justice, but would also put the credibility of the collegium system at stake.

Justice Pancholi is also preceded by three women High Court judges, Justices Sunita Agarwal, Revati Mohite Dere, and Lisa Gill. The collegium and Centre's decision to overlook the women judges has also spurred criticism.

No woman judge has been elevated to the top court since 2021 when Justices Hima Kolhi, Bela Trivedi and BV Nagarathna were appointed.

Justice Pancholi is now in line to serve as India's 60th Chief Justice in 2031, and is also the third sitting Supreme Court judge whose parent High Court is the Gujarat High Court.

More about the new judges

Justice Alok Aradhe

Justice Aradhe was serving as the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court before his elevation to the Supreme Court. He was appointed as an additional judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court in 2009. He was made a permanent judge in 2011. 

He was transferred to the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir in 2016 and served as its Acting Chief Justice for 3 months in 2018. After that, he took oath as a judge of the Karnataka High Court on November 17, 2018 and served as its acting Chief Justice for a few months in 2022.

In July 2023, he was appointed as Chief Justice of the Telangana High Court. He was then transferred to the Bombay High Court as its Chief Justice in January 2025.

Justice Vipul Pancholi

Justice Pancholi was elevated as an additional judge of the Gujarat High Court on October 1, 2014 and confirmed as permanent Judge on June 10, 2016. He was transferred to Patna in July 2023.

His transfer to Patna High Court from Gujarat was mired in controversy after the Gujarat High Court Advocates' Association (GHCAA) opposed the same. In a communication to the then Chief Justice of India, the GHCAA had said that Justice Pancholi imbibed all the qualities that a good judge should possess. They had further highlighted that Justice Pancholi has disposed of over 35,000 matters.

Despite the opposition, the transfer was effected, and he served as the Patna High Court's Chief Justice till his appointment to the Supreme Court.

Supreme Court's five senior most judges

The other Supreme Court judges