NEW DELHI: Vacancies in Supreme Court are soon going to increase the burden of pending cases this year, with eight retirements due, including two Chief Justices of India. Present CJI N V Ramana, who took over in April 2021, will demit office in August. Justice U U Lalit will be the CJI till November, after which Justice D Y Chandrachud will take over. He will be the CJI till November 2024.
By the time Justice Chandrachud retires in 2024, many judges presently at the apex court would have retired. Justice Chandrachud’s father was also a CJI and it will be the first time that a son would follow his father into the seat.
Justice Sanjeev Khanna will become CJI after Justice Chandrachud and be in office until May 13, 2025. After his retirement, Justice B R Gavai will become the CJI for over six months. He will be the second CJI from the Scheduled Caste community after Justice (retd) K G Balakrishnan. Justice Surya Kant will succeed Justice Gavai in November 2025. He will remain in office till February 2027.
Such short tenure of judges in the top court that is fighting with pendency of over three crore cases will not only hamper the chances of clearing the backlog but also reduce the chances for any CJI to implement changes and bring in a policy that will help improve the present system.
This year has already seen the retirement of Justice R Subhash Reddy on January 4. Justice Vineet Saran will retire on May 10, Justice L Nageswara Rao on June 7, Justice A M Khanwilkar on July 29, Justice Indira Banerjee on September 23 and Justice Hemant Gupta on October 16. With these retirements in line and in case no new elevation at the top court takes place, the total strength of judges will come down to 25, as against the sanctioned strength of 34.