SC collegium holds 50 interviews in 2 days, signals shift

The move follows a precedent set late last year when the collegium under then CJI Sanjiv Khanna revived the practice of personally interviewing candidates

The Supreme Court collegium this week interviewed at least 50 candidates in just two days, setting a record for the highest number of face-to-face interactions in one go for high court appointments, and reinforcing the collegium’s shift towards personality assessment over paper credentials.

The move comes even as the Supreme Court is in its traditional summer recess, making the scale of this exercise particularly significant. (Representational image)

On Tuesday and Wednesday, Chief Justice of India (CJI) Bhushan R Gavai and justices Surya Kant and Vikram Nath, the top three judges of the Supreme Court, held extensive one-on-one interactions with judicial officers and lawyers recommended for the high courts of Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana, Patna, Rajasthan and others.

People familiar with the development said the collegium opted for these interactions “over and above” the conventional vetting process that typically involves reviewing judicial performance, seeking Intelligence Bureau inputs, and considering the views of the chief minister and the governor, in addition to inputs from the department of justice under the law ministry.

“These interactions are intended to go beyond the written record and get a sense of the candidate’s personality, temperament and overall suitability,” said one of the persons cited above, adding that the meetings were held in two batches over two days at the Supreme Court.

Notably, the move comes even as the Supreme Court is in its traditional summer recess, making the scale of this exercise particularly significant. The development further aligns with CJI Gavai’s decision to rebrand the summer vacation as “partial court working days”, during which top benches, including those led by the CJI, heard several matters during the last week of May. Two or three benches have been functioning five days a week to hear urgent and regular matters during the “partial working days” between May 26 and July 13, while judges are also using the time to write detailed judgments and prepare for upcoming cases.

Now, the administrative and institutional side of the apex court, particularly the collegium work, has also been brought under this partial work regime. “The message is clear that judicial and administrative work in the top court does not stop with the court calendar. This is a demonstration of intent to keep up institutional momentum even during recess,” said another person.

The latest move follows a precedent set late last year when the collegium under then CJI Sanjiv Khanna revived the practice of personally interviewing candidates. As reported first by HT in December 2024, the collegium had conducted in-person meetings with candidates being considered for various high courts.

The revival of personal interviews was seen at the time as a response to growing concerns around judicial conduct and suitability, especially in the wake of a controversy involving Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav of the Allahabad high court, whose inflammatory remarks targeting the Muslim community and invoking majoritarian themes at a VHP event in December 2024 drew widespread condemnation for violating the principles of secularism and judicial impartiality.

At that time, the collegium, which included justices Gavai and Kant, had signalled the need for a more direct and holistic understanding of judges’ temperaments and outlooks, beyond what could be gleaned from service records or intelligence inputs.

The latest round of interactions, which are broader in scale and ambition, cements the personal interview model as a key feature of the collegium’s new approach. It also comes in the wake of a controversy involving sitting high court judge, justice Yashwant Varma, who is battling allegations of a cash haul from his residence in Delhi in March.

On May 5, a three-member in-house enquiry committee submitted its report confirming that cash was indeed found at the residence of justice Varma, who was then a Delhi high court judge. This cash was kept in a storeroom where a fire broke out March 14, following which fire service officials and police, engaged in dousing the flames, discovered half-burnt currency notes stacked in a sack. Then CJI Sanjiv Khanna initiated the process for the removal of justice Varma by writing to President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, stating that the allegations were serious and warranted initiation of proceedings for his removal under the Constitution.

Notably, the trio conducting these interactions includes not just the present CJI but also the next two in line -- Justice Surya Kant is set to take over as CJI in November 2025, followed by Justice Vikram Nath in February 2027. Their joint involvement in this process highlights a continuity of vision across future leaderships of the court.

According to one of the persons cited above, the candidates were asked wide-ranging questions to gauge their understanding of constitutional values, views on pressing legal issues and their sense of ethics and institutional responsibility.

“While these interactions are not binding, they provide the collegium with valuable qualitative insight. Further, the senior judges’ personal involvement in candidate assessment shows the judiciary’s evolving approach to appointments, emphasising integrity, personality and balance, in addition to seniority and merit,” the person added.