Questions in Justice Nagarathna’s dissent remain even as Justices Aradhe, Pancholi to be sworn in as Supreme Court judges on August 29

Questions raised by Justice B.V. Nagarathna in a dissent to the elevation of Justice Vipul Manubhai Pancholi to the Supreme Court remain even as Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai is scheduled to read the oath of office to the judge and Justice Alok Aradhe on Friday (August 29, 2025).

The lone woman apex court judge’s questions in her dissent included the reasons behind the transfer of Justice Pancholi from Gujarat to Patna in July 2023 and why a team of senior lawyers had urgently sought a meeting with then Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud (now retired) in the presence of Justice M.R. Shah (retired), a then apex court judge whose parent High Court was Gujarat and had served as the Chief Justice of Patna High Court, to plead for Justice Pancholi’s immediate transfer. 

In her dissent, Justice Nagarathna had asked the Collegium to call for the minutes of its meeting in which Justice Pancholi’s transfer to Patna was proposed.

The dissent had queried why Justice Vikram Nath, currently a Supreme Court Collegium member and formerly Gujarat Chief Justice, had summoned Justice Pancholi to reprimand him. It also appears that Justice Nath had expressed reservations, alongside Justice Nagarathna, when Chief Justice Gavai proposed the elevation of Justice Pancholi on May 25.

The dissent highlighted that the opinions of Justices Shah, Nath and J.B. Pardiwala of the Supreme Court and Justice Aravind Kumar, who was Chief Justice of Gujarat High Court then and currently an apex court judge, were sought about Justice Pancholi’s transfer to Patna High Court. They had all agreed to the transfer proposal.

However, the opinion of Justice Pardiwala was not sought during Justice Pancholi’s elevation as the Patna High Court Chief Justice by a three-member Supreme Court Collegium.

A source close to the development said Justice Nagarathna’s dissent emphasised the need to have a “really high” threshold in place while recommending judges to the Supreme Court, especially those who would be in line for future Chief Justiceship of India.

Statements have appeared in the public domain linking Justice Nagarathna’s elevation to the apex court to her father and 19th Chief Justice of India E.S. Venkataramiah. However, Justice Nagarathna was elevated to the Karnataka High Court Bench in February 2008, a decade after her father had died in September 1997. The judge’s elevation to the apex court came nearly 24 years after the former CJI passed on.