Three High Court Chief Justices Become Supreme Court Judges: How Judges Are Appointed in India
The Union Ministry of Law and Justice issued a notification dated 5 October 2026 appointing three High Court Chief Justices as judges of the Supreme Court.
The three are Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya (Chief Justice, Delhi High Court), Justice Sunita Agarwal (Chief Justice, Gujarat High Court) and Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh (Chief Justice, Telangana High Court).
The Supreme Court Collegium (the group of the five senior-most judges led by the Chief Justice of India) had recommended their names on 28 September 2026.
With these appointments, the working strength of the Supreme Court rises to 37, against a sanctioned strength of 38 (including the Chief Justice of India). Sanctioned strength is the maximum number of judges allowed by law.
The sanctioned strength was raised from 34 to 38 by the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Act, 2026, which followed an ordinance of 16 May 2026.
Justice Agarwal and Justice Upadhyaya both come from the Allahabad High Court as their parent court; Justice Singh's parent court is the Jharkhand High Court. The Supreme Court now has three women judges.
Collegium System and Judicial Appointments
The collegium system is the way judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts are chosen in India. A small group of the senior-most judges, called the collegium, selects names and sends them to the government. The President then formally appoints them. The system is not written in the Constitution. It was created by Supreme Court judgments in 1993 and 1998.
The three appointments followed the full collegium route: a recommendation by the five-member collegium on 28 September 2026, followed by a government notification on 5 October 2026. They also fill new posts created when Parliament raised the Court's strength to 38 in 2026.
Separation of Powers in the Indian Constitution
Separation of powers is the idea that the work of government is split among three branches: the legislature makes laws, the executive runs the government, and the judiciary interprets laws and settles disputes. No one branch should hold all the power. India does not follow a strict separation, but the Constitution protects the core area of each branch. The way judges are appointed is one of the main places where the executive and the judiciary meet.
The appointments show the balance in practice. The judiciary (through the collegium) chooses the names, while the executive issues the formal notification and Parliament fixes the number of judges by law.
- New SC judges: Justices Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya, Sunita Agarwal and Aparesh Kumar Singh
- Collegium recommendation: 28 September 2026; government notification: 5 October 2026
- Working strength: 37; sanctioned strength: 38 (including CJI)
- Sanctioned strength raised from 34 to 38 by the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Act, 2026 (ordinance of 16 May 2026)
- Collegium members: CJI Surya Kant and Justices Vikram Nath, B.V. Nagarathna, M.M. Sundresh and P.S. Narasimha
- Women judges in the SC after these appointments: 3