Supreme Court Collegium recommends 3 CJs of high courts as apex court judges

3 min readNew Delhi, VadodaraUpdated: Sep 29, 2026 05:08 AM IST

CJ Sunita Agarwal; CJ DK Upadhyaya; CJ AK Singh.

The Supreme Court Collegium on Monday recommended the names of Justices Sunita Agarwal, Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Aparesh Kumar Singh, chief justices of Gujarat, Delhi and Telangana high courts respectively, for elevation as judges of the apex court.

CJs Upadhyaya and Agarwal, both coming from the Bar and with their parent high court being at Allahabad, are the two senior-most judges of the Allahabad HC. The three chief justices recommended for elevation rank fourth, fifth and sixth in overall seniority of all high court judges across the country. Notably, the third senior-most judge in the country, Himachal Pradesh HC Chief Justice G S Sandhawalia, who was recommended for elevation by the SC Collegium earlier, was not approved by the Centre.

CJ Upadhyaya has been in charge of Delhi HC since January 2025, while CJ Agarwal took charge of the Gujarat HC in July 2023. Both CJs were appointed as judges of the Allahabad HC in November 2011, and moved out of Allahabad after being elevated as CJs of different high courts in July 2023. CJ Upadhyaya is due to retire in June 2027 while CJ Agarwal retires in April 2028.

If all three recommendations of the SC Collegium are approved, the Supreme Court’s strength will go up to 37 sitting judges of the 38 sanctioned strength — also making CJ Agarwal the third woman SC judge.

Before moving to the Delhi High Court, Justice Upadhyaya had also served as Chief Justice of the Bombay HC.

Born in 1965 in Uttar Pradesh’s Ambedkar Nagar district, Justice Upadhyaya graduated in law from Lucknow University in 1991 and practised broadly in civil and constitutional matters. He was appointed chief standing counsel for Uttar Pradesh in May 2007 and held the office until his elevation as Judge of the Allahabad HC in 2011. He was made a permanent judge in August 2013 and became a Senior Judge of the Lucknow Bench in March 2023. In July 2023, he was appointed the Chief Justice of the Bombay HC.

Nearly two months after he took charge, then Delhi HC judge Justice Yashwant Varma got embroiled in a controversy over the discovery of cash during a fire at his official residence, in March 2025. In its aftermath, CJ Upadhyaya had submitted a report on the incident following a preliminary inquiry to then Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna with the “prima facie opinion that the entire matter warrants a deeper probe”.

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CJ Agarwal, earlier this year heading a division bench, in a significant ruling, dismissed a set of appeals and paved the way for the government to pursue eviction proceedings to clear nearly 45,000 square metres of land of convicted rapist Asaram’s ashram in Motera, Ahmedabad, for Commonwealth Games-2030.

CJ Singh, with his parent high court at Jharkhand, was elevated as a judge from the Bar in 2012. He was appointed as the acting chief justice of the Jharkhand HC in 2022 and then took charge of Tripura HC as its Chief Justice in April 2023. He took charge as Telangana HC Chief Justice in July 2025. Justice Singh hails from a family with a judicial background. His maternal great-grandfather, the late B P Sinha, was the sixth Chief Justice of India.

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Sohini Ghosh is a Senior Correspondent at The Indian Express. Previously based in Ahmedabad covering Gujarat, she recently moved to the New Delhi bureau, where she primarily covers legal developments at the Delhi High Court Professional Profile Background: An alumna of the Asian College of Journalism (ACJ), she previously worked with ET NOW before joining The Indian Express. Core Beats: Her reporting is currently centered on the Delhi High Court, with a focus on high-profile constitutional disputes, disputes over intellectual property, criminal and civil cases, issues of human rights and regulatory law (especially in the areas of technology and healthcare). Earlier Specialty: In Gujarat, she was known for her rigorous coverage in the beats of crime, law and policy, and social justice issues, including the 2002 riot cases, 2008 serial bomb blast case, 2016 flogging of Dalits in Una, among others. She has extensively covered health in the state, including being part of the team that revealed the segregation of wards at the state’s largest government hospital on lines of faith in April 2020. With Ahmedabad being a UNESCO heritage city, she has widely covered urban development and heritage issues, including the redevelopment of the Sabarmati Ashram Recent Notable Articles (Late 2025) Her recent reporting from the Delhi High Court covers major political, constitutional, corporate, and public-interest legal battles: High-Profile Case Coverage She has extensively covered the various legal battles - including for compensation under the aegis of North East Delhi Riots Claims Commission - pertaining to the 2020 northeast Delhi riots, as well as 1984 anti-Sikh riots. She has also led coverage at the intersection of technology and governance, and its impact on the citizenry, from, and beyond courtrooms — such as the government’s stakeholder consultations for framing AI-Deepfake policy. Signature Style Sohini is recognized for her sustained reporting from courtrooms and beyond. She specialises in breaking down dense legal arguments to make legalese accessible for readers. Her transition from Gujarat to Delhi has seen her expand her coverage on regulatory, corporate and intellectual property law, while maintaining a strong commitment to human rights and lacuna in the criminal justice system. X (Twitter): @thanda_ghosh ... Read More

Aditi Raja is an Assistant Editor with The Indian Express, stationed in Vadodara, Gujarat, with over 20 years in the field. She has been reporting from the region of Central Gujarat and Narmada district for this newspaper since 2013, which establishes her as a highly Authoritative and Trustworthy source on regional politics, administration, and critical socio-economic and environmental issues. Expertise: Core Authority & Specialization: Her reporting is characterized by a comprehensive grasp of the complex factors shaping Central Gujarat, which comprises a vast tribal population, including: Politics and Administration: In-depth analysis of dynamics within factions of political parties and how it affects the affairs in the region, visits of national leaders making prominent statements, and government policy decisions impacting the population on ground. Crucial Regional Projects: She consistently reports on the socio-economic and political impact of infrastructure projects in the region, especially the Statue of Unity, the Sardar Sarovar Project on the Narmada River, the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail bullet train project as well as the National Highway infrastructure. Social Justice and Human Rights: Her reporting offers deep coverage of sensitive human-interest topics, including gender, crime, and tribal issues. Her reports cover legal proceedings from various district courts as well as the Gujarat High Court (e.g., the Bilkis Bano case remission, POCSO court orders, Public Interest Litigations), the plight of tribal communities, and broader social conflicts (e.g., Kheda flogging case). Local Impact & Disaster Reporting: Excels in documenting the immediate impact of events on communities, such as the political and civic fallout of the Vadodara floods, the subsequent public anger, and the long-delayed river redevelopment projects, Harni Boat Tragedy, Air India crash, bringing out a blend of stories from the investigations as well as human emotions. Special Interest Beat: She tracks incidents concerning Non-Resident Gujaratis (NRIs) including crime and legal battles abroad, issues of illegal immigration and deportations, as well as social events connecting the local Gujarati experience to the global diaspora. ... Read More