What the Supreme Court Collegium will look like from January to April 2024

Upon the recent retirement of Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, the Supreme Court Collegium has undergone another change..Consisting of the five senior-most judges of the Supreme Court, the Collegium is responsible for appointing judges to the Supreme Court as well as deciding on the transfer of High Court judges. The three senior-most judges make the decisions on appointment of judges to High Courts..The Supreme Court Collegium now consists of:CJI DY ChandrachudJustice Sanjiv KhannaJustice BR GavaiJustice Surya KantJustice Aniruddha Bose.After Justice Bose retires in April this year, Justice AS Bopanna will take his place in the Collegium.Three of the current members - Justices Khanna, Gavai and Kant - will serve as Chief Justice of India at different points over the next three years once CJI Chandrachud retires in November 2024..CJI DY Chandrachud.CJI Chandrachud practiced law before the Supreme Court and the Bombay High Court and served as Additional Solicitor General of India from 1998 until he was appointed as a judge of the Bombay High Court in March 2000.He was later appointed as Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court and served in that capacity until he was elevated to the Supreme Court on May 13, 2016..Justice Sanjiv Khanna.Justice Khanna was elevated as a judge of the Supreme Court of India on January 18, 2019, after serving as a judge of the Delhi High Court for fourteen years.Before his appointment as a judge, Justice Khanna was a lawyer with a practice spread across constitutional, company, taxation and environmental law, as well as arbitration and commercial matters. He also argued a number of criminal cases as a public prosecutor.Justice Khanna's tenure as CJI will commence on November 11, 2024, when CJI Chandrachud demits office. He will spend around six months at the helm until his retirement on May 13, 2025..Justice BR Gavai.Justice Gavai was a lawyer practicing before the Bombay High Court specialising in constitutional and administrative law, until he was elevated as a judge of that Court in 2003. He had also served as government pleader and public prosecutor during his time as a lawyer. He was elevated to the Supreme Court on May 24, 2019.He was the first Dalit judge in nearly a decade to appointed to the top court and he will be the second ever Dalit Chief Justice of India after Justice KG Balakrishnan who retired in 2010.Justice Gavai will serve as CJI from May 14, 2025 to November 23, 2025..Justice Surya Kant.Justice Kant was a lawyer specialising in constitutional, civil and service matters and was designated a Senior Advocate in 2001.He held the office of Advocate General of Haryana until his elevation as a permanent judge of the Punjab & Haryana High Court on January 9, 2004. He later served as Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court.His will have a tenure of over fourteen months as CJI from November 24, 2025 to February 9, 2027..Justice Aniruddha Bose.Justice Bose started his practice as a lawyer specialising in constitutional, civil and intellectual property matters before the Calcutta High Court in 1985. He was appointed a permanent judge of the Calcutta High Court in January 2004. In 2018, he was appointed as the Chief Justice of the Jharkhand High Court and less than a year later, on May 24, 2019, he was elevated as a judge of the Supreme Court of India.He will retire from service as a judge on April 10, 2024.