Former judge claims Modi personally selects Supreme Court and high court judges

At a conference titled “Who Will Judge the Judges” in Chennai, former Madras High Court judge K Chandru claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been directly appointing judges to the Supreme Court and all high courts since his party came to power in 2014, effectively sidelining the traditional collegium system. Chandru noted that the government’s earlier attempt to introduce the National Judicial Appointments Commission was struck down by the Supreme Court, after which no effort was made to revive it.

He described the collegium as opaque and not constitutionally grounded, calling it the country’s biggest secret. Fellow panelists, such as former Odisha High Court chief justice S Muralidhar, warned that recent chief justices have lacked high-court leadership experience and that no women have been elevated to the Supreme Court under former CJI D Y Chandrachud. Senior advocates Raju Ramachandran and R Vaigai also addressed concerns about impeachment failures and the lack of diversity in judicial appointments.