Court Data
Justice Hima Kohli retires after a three year tenure at the Supreme Court
Justice Hima Kohli’s tenure was the shortest among nine colleagues who were appointed the same day as her
On 1 September 2024, Justice Hima Kohli will retire from the Supreme Court after a three year tenure. During this time, she authored 40 judgements and was a part of 208 benches.
Her retirement will reduce the sitting strength of the Supreme Court to 33 judges.
Figure 1 plots the expected tenure of all sitting judges of the Supreme Court. At three years, Justice Kohli’s was among the shortest tenures of sitting judges.
Notably, Justice Kohli was part of a group of appointments made during Chief Justice N.V. Ramana’s tenure in 2021. She was appointed alongside eight other judges: Justices A.S. Oka, Vikram Nath, J.K. Maheshwari, B.V. Nagarathna, C.T. Ravikumar, M.M. Sundresh, Bela Trivedi, and P.S. Narasimha. Three of them are expected to go on to serve as the Chief Justice of India.
Among the nine appointees, Justice Kohli had the shortest tenure. The highest being Justice Narasimha (6.75 years).
Justice Kohli’s tenure is also shorter than the average tenure of sitting judges of the Supreme Court—5.3 years.
Among the sitting justices, the highest tenure is of Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud who will retire this year in November 2023.
For a detailed analysis of her tenure make sure to read our tenure in numbers and notable judgements.
Related articles
Analysis
Justice Hima Kohli’s Notable Judgements
From marriage equality to a split decision on abortion, Justice Kohli had judicial record which traced a diverse range of decisions
Analysis
Justice Hima Kohli: Tenure in numbers
In a tenure spanning three years, Justice Kohli authored 40 judgements and was a part of 208 benches
Court Data
Woman SC Judges Have Shorter Tenures than Male Judges
While the number of woman judges at the SC has increased, the time they will spend on the bench is low.
Analysis
Abortion law in India: A step backward after going forward
The Court’s decision to refuse an abortion to a woman with postpartum psychosis has undone the progressive strides made in 2021 and 2022