In a latest development, the Supreme Court collegium has invited lawyers, Sushil Manohar Ghodeswar, Ajit Kadethankar and Aarti Sathe of Bombay High Court, on Monday, 28, July 2025, for an interaction. These names were recommended quite a while back by the Bombay High Court collegium of former Chief Justice, Devendra Kumar Upadhaya, Justice Nitin Jamdar and Justice K.R Sriram for appointment as additional judges of the High Court.

The recommended names however had remained in cold storage and after a long hiatus since then, the Supreme Court collegium has now decided to invite them for an interaction.

Sushil Manohar Ghodeswar has been an Assistant Government Pleader at the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court, Ajit Kadethanker had appeared as a counsel for the State Election Commission and Aarti Sathe has been handling tax disputes, matters of SAT/ SEBI and matrimonial disputes in court.

It may be recalled that the process of interviewing lawyers for elevation to the bench, re-stated in December last year, and the Chief Justice of India (CJI) Gavai, has reiterated his commitment to continue with ‘interaction with proposed judges’.

The CJI has also expressed his strong will to include more women lawyers for elevation to the bench.

He had recently expressed that appointment of judicial officers shall go through the process of personal interaction with candidates. He had underscored the benefits of personal interaction with candidates chosen by the respective High Courts for elevation. “We got an opportunity to test the capabilities of lawyers chosen by the HC collegium first-hand. And, therefore, I believe this process should continue,” the CJI had noted.

Additionally, he noted that this interaction will not only enable members of the collegium to learn more about the candidates before the official process of their appointments is initiated but will also, to some extent help to avoid controversies that have happened in the past due to some judges making unwarranted observations in their orders and in their utterances outside courts.

Commenting on the lack of adequate representation of women in the higher judiciary, the CJI had stated, “High courts have been asked to look for eligible women lawyers for elevation to the bench. They have also been told that if women advocates are less in numbers, then the high courts should find suitable candidates from among the women lawyers practising in the Supreme Court, who hail from the state where the appointment is to be made.”

What is to be discerned now is which woman judge of the High Court or who among the women lawyers will be considered for elevation to the Supreme Court. It may be noted that after the retirement of Supreme Court Judge, Justice Bela Trivedi, there is only one woman judge in the Supreme Court.