The Supreme Court Collegium led by Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana has recommended Gauhati High Court Chief Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Gujarat High Court judge Justice Jamshed Burjor Pardiwala for appointment as apex court judges.
Justice Dhulia will be the second judge to be elevated from Uttarakhand High Court. He hails from Madanpur, a remote village in Pauri Garhwal district of Uttarakhand. The grandson of a freedom fighter who took part in the Quit India Movement, Justice Dhulia was elevated as a judge of the High Court of Uttarakhand in November 2008 and later became the Chief Justice of the High Court of Assam, Mizoram, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh on January 10, 2021.
Justice Pardiwala will be the fourth Parsi to adorn the Bench of Supreme Court. He is a fourth generation legal professional in his family. His father, Burjor Cawasji Pardiwala, a lawyer, had briefly served as the Speaker of the Seventh Legislative Assembly of Gujarat.
If appointed as apex court judge, Justice Pardiwala will be in line for appointment as Chief Justice of India and have a tenure of about two years and three months as top judge of the country. His would be the first from a minority community to be elevated to the Supreme Court in five years. Justice S. Abdul Nazeer was elevated to the Supreme Court in February 2017.
Chief Justice Ramana has been able to reach a consensus with his collegium members, Justices U.U. Lalit, A.M. Khanwilkar, D.Y. Chandrachud and L. Nageswara Rao, to unanimously recommend 11 names so far to the apex court since August 2021.
The Collegium’s success had seen a record nine judges, including three women, sworn in as Supreme Court Justices on August 31 last year. One of the women judges, Justice B.V. Nagarathna, is in line to be the first woman Chief Justice of India.
The Collegium had also successfully orchestrated the appointment of 10 new Chief Justices to various High Courts. It has so far recommended 180 names for appointment as judges of various High Courts.
