Supreme Court to Get Two New Judges: Govt Clears Alok Aradhe & Vipul Pancholi’s Elevation

The Central government has cleared the names of Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Vipul Manubhai Pancholi for appointment as Supreme Court judges.

Their names were recommended two days back by the Supreme Court Collegium.

These recommendations have been in the spotlight for the past two days owing to a dissent over the elevation of Justice Pancholi, by Justice BV Nagarathna.

Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms (CJAR) also called upon the Supreme Court to indicate the reasons for the recommendation of Justice Vipul Pancholi of the Patna High Court for elevation as a judge of the Supreme Court and the reason for superseding all the other judges, higher in seniority.

Notably, the CJAR has also asked to make public the reported dissent note of Justice BV Nagarathna allegedly recorded in the meeting of the collegium dated 25 August, 2025 as she has requested. Justice B.V. Nagarathna dissented from the collegium’s recommendation to elevate Justice Pancholi to the Supreme Court. The recommendation by a 4-1 majority of the collegium led by Chief Justice B.R. Gavai, saw Justice Nagarathna as the sole dissenter. Her objection has placed the spotlight on the principle of seniority in judicial elevations.

Further, Justice Nagarathna has signaled that the collegium’s credibility is at stake. The note reportedly warns that such appointments, when they appear to circumvent established norms, can erode public trust in the institution's fairness and integrity. She is said to have argued that the choices made now will have long-term consequences for how the Supreme Court is perceived.

It is reported that Justice Nagarathna, as member of the Collegium, recorded a strong note of dissent against the appointment of Justice Pancholi to the Supreme Court, stating that his appointment would be “counter productive” to the administration of justice and would erode the credibility of the collegium system. CJAR has further noted that Justice Nagarathna first expressed such reservations to the appointment of Justice Pancholi in the month of May this year. She had even called for minutes of meetings related to Justice Pancholi’s transfer from Gujarat to Patna High Court in 2023, which did not seem routine.

As per CJAR the Supreme Court resolution of 25th August is lacking on three counts, namely:

1. Only names of appointees are mentioned without details being given of the background of the candidates as used to be the practice 2. The collegium coram making the recommendations is missing
3. Criteria for giving preference to a certain candidate even though they are lower in seniority are not being mentioned.

It is not clear as per CJAR as to what has swayed the Supreme Court collegium in recommending Justice Pancholi to the Supreme Court, since Justice Pancholi is not merely the third judge from Gujarat to be elevated to the Supreme Court, (disproportionate to the size of the Gujarat High Court and leaving various other High Courts unrepresented) but he is also 57th in all India seniority list of High Court judges.

For some background, Justice Alok Aradhe was appointed as Additional Judge of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh in 2009 and made a Permanent Judge in 2011. He has been transferred to the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka and Telangana. In January this year, he was transferred as the Chief Justice of High Court of Bombay and assumed charge on the 21st of January 2025. Justice Pancholi was elevated as Additional Judge, High Court of Gujarat on 1st October 2014 and confirmed as permanent Judge in 2016. He was later transferred to Patna High Court and took oath as Judge, Patna High Court on 24th July, 2023 and became the Chief Justice of the Patna High Court on 21st July, 2025.

Two vacancies arose at the Supreme Court after the recent retirements of Justices Bela Trivedi and Sudhanshu Dhulia.