SC Collegium Recommends Appointment of Judicial Officers and Advocates as Judges of 3 High Courts
The Supreme Court Collegium, headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, has recommended the appointment of nine Judicial Officers and Advocates as judges of three High Courts. The recommendations were made at the Collegium meeting held on August 18, 2026.
The recommendations cover the Chhattisgarh High Court, Gauhati High Court and Orissa High Court. The move is part of the continuing process of filling vacancies and strengthening the judicial strength of High Courts across the country.
For the Chhattisgarh High Court, the Collegium has recommended three Judicial Officers—Santosh Sharma, Sushma Sawant and Sudhir Kumar—for appointment as judges.
The recommendations for Chhattisgarh are significant because appointments from the subordinate judiciary provide an important route for experienced Judicial Officers to move to the High Court. Their elevation brings with it substantial experience in handling trials, civil disputes, criminal matters and other litigation at the district level.
For the Gauhati High Court, the Collegium has recommended two candidates—Nchumbemo Mozhui, an Advocate, and Helen Dawngliani, a Judicial Officer. Both have been recommended for appointment as judges of the High Court.
The Gauhati recommendation is notable because it combines both streams of High Court appointments: members of the Bar and officers from the judicial service. The Collegium’s recommendations therefore reflect the established practice of drawing High Court judges from both experienced advocates and the subordinate judiciary.
For the Orissa High Court, four Advocates have been recommended for elevation. They are Sasmita Tripathy, Aditya Narayan Das, Rajjeet Roy and Gautam Misra.
With these recommendations, the Collegium has proposed appointments of three Judicial Officers to Chhattisgarh, one Judicial Officer and one Advocate to Gauhati, and four Advocates to Orissa. The Supreme Court’s official Collegium records confirm that separate resolutions were issued on August 18 for the three High Courts.
The recommendations, however, do not by themselves complete the appointment process. A Collegium recommendation is followed by consideration by the Union Government and the formal constitutional appointment process. The recommended candidates become High Court judges only after the required appointment notification and subsequent swearing-in.
The latest recommendations also demonstrate the continuing role of the Collegium system in High Court appointments. Under the present constitutional arrangement, recommendations for appointment of High Court judges originate through the judicial process and are subsequently considered by the Union Government.
The Supreme Court has been issuing a series of Collegium resolutions in 2026 aimed at filling judicial vacancies. Its official records show recommendations during the year for appointments to several High Courts, including Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Madras, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana and others.
The August 18 recommendations came alongside other Collegium decisions concerning High Court judges. On the same date, the Collegium also dealt with the appointment of an Additional Judge as a permanent judge and extensions of the terms of Additional Judges in the Calcutta High Court, as well as the appointment of an Additional Judge as a permanent judge in the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
The recommendations are therefore part of a broader effort to address judicial vacancies and ensure that High Courts have adequate judicial strength. Vacancies can affect the ability of High Courts to deal with mounting civil, criminal, constitutional and administrative litigation.
The elevation of Judicial Officers is particularly important because they bring direct judicial experience from the trial courts, while appointments from the Bar allow High Courts to draw upon advocates with extensive experience in litigation and legal practice.
The next stage will depend on the processing of the recommendations by the Union Government. Once the appointments are formally notified, the selected Judicial Officers and Advocates will take oath and assume office as judges of their respective High Courts.
The latest Collegium resolutions thus represent another step in the ongoing process of strengthening the High Court judiciary. The recommendations also underline the importance of maintaining a regular pipeline of appointments from both the judicial service and the legal profession to meet the country’s continuing demand for judicial capacity.
