In the appointment of the Judges of the Supreme Court of India the collegium…

Concept

The collegium is the judiciary-led mechanism through which judges of the higher judiciary are appointed and transferred. It is not written into the Constitution; it evolved through the Supreme Court's interpretation of Articles 124 and 217 in the Three Judges Cases. A crucial point is that the size of the collegium is not fixed at one number for everything — it depends on WHICH appointment is being made.

The settled rule (Third Judges Case, 1998 Presidential Reference) for appointing a Judge of the Supreme Court is: the Chief Justice of India together with the four senior-most judges of the Supreme Court.

Application

The question asks specifically about the appointment of Judges of the Supreme Court. Applying the rule above, the collegium for this purpose is:

• The Chief Justice of India (who heads it), plus

• the four senior-most judges of the Supreme Court.

So the correct composition is the Chief Justice of India and four judges of the Supreme Court.

Cross-check / Contrast

It is easy to confuse the Supreme-Court-judge collegium with the other collegium sizes, so distinguish them by value:

• For appointing High Court judges, the collegium is the Chief Justice of India and the two senior-most judges of the Supreme Court — a smaller body than the one used for a Supreme Court appointment.

• There is no standard collegium that consists of the Chief Justice of India with three judges for any appointment.

• A body of the Chief Justice of India with only two judges (not necessarily the senior-most) does not match the rule for a Supreme Court appointment, which requires the senior-most judges and a count of four.

Hence, for appointing a Supreme Court judge the collegium is the Chief Justice of India and four judges of the Supreme Court.