The Supreme Court Collegium has approved the proposal for the appointment of nine advocates as Judges of the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh. The decision was taken at a Collegium meeting held on October 29, 2026, according to a statement issued by the Supreme Court Collegium and reported by LiveLaw.

Source: LiveLaw

The advocates recommended for appointment are: Vishal Sharma, Vikram Kumar Sharma, Namgyal Wangchuk, Pawan Kumar Kundal, Tahir Majid Shamsi, Tabasum Zafar, Amit Gupta, Pranav Kohli and Anupam Raina.

Source: LiveLaw

Filling Vacancies in a 25-Judge Court

The recommendations follow an earlier exercise by the High Court Collegium, headed by Chief Justice Arun Palli, which had recommended 11 names for appointment as High Court Judges in April this year — 10 advocates from the Bar quota and one judicial officer from the Bench quota. The exercise aims to address vacancies in the High Court, whose sanctioned strength was increased from 17 to 25 Judges in November 2024, LiveLaw reported.

Source: LiveLaw

9Advocates recommended as Judges
25Sanctioned strength of the J&K and Ladakh High Court
11Names recommended by the High Court Collegium in April

The recommendations will now proceed to the next stages of governmental scrutiny and the formal issuance of warrants of appointment, Tahir Rihat reported, adding that the Collegium for this decision was headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant. A recommendation is not an appointment: the nine advocates will become Judges only after the government processes the names and appointment warrants are issued.

Source: Tahir Rihat