Introduction
The Chief Justice of India (CJI) is not merely a symbolic head of the judiciary but a key institutional actor responsible for bench allocations, constitutional interpretations, and policy reforms within the judicial system. Since 1993, following the Supreme Court’s Second Judges Case, appointments to the office of CJI have adhered to the Collegium system. While this framework successfully insulated appointments from executive interference, it has replaced political discretion with internal judicial control.
Methodology
We classified all 51 CJIs (Till CJI Sanjiv Khanna) from 1950 to 2025 into two categories:
- Appointed to the Supreme Court in the Pre-Collegium Era (1950–1993): CJI Nos. 30
- Appointed to the Supreme Court in the Post-Collegium Era (1993–2025): CJI Nos. 21 (Till CJI Sanjiv Khanna)
The dataset includes:
- Date of Appointment and Retirement
- Calculated Tenure in Months
- Measures of Central Tendency and Dispersion: Average, Median, Standard Deviation
Descriptive Statistics
| CJI who were appointed | Pre-Collegium (n=30) | Post-Collegium (n=21) |
| Average Tenure (Months) | 20.88 | 13.13 |
| Median Tenure (Months) | 13.61 | 13.15 |
| Standard Deviation | 18.46 | 9.14 |
- Average Tenure Has Declined Post-Collegium
Pre-Collegium: 20.9 months, post-collegium: 13.1 months
Interpretation: There is a substantial decrease (37%) in the average tenure of CJIs post-Collegium. This suggests that appointments under the Collegium system tend to be of individuals who higher seniority.
2. Median Tenure Remains Almost Unchanged
Pre-Collegium: 13.6 months, post-collegium: 13.15 months
Interpretation: Despite the drop in average tenure, the median is stable. This implies that most CJIs in both eras served short tenures, and the higher average in the pre-Collegium period is likely due to a few outliers with long tenures.
3. Variability in Tenure Has Reduced
Standard Deviation Pre-Collegium: 18.4 months, Standard Deviation Post-Collegium: 9.14 months
Interpretation: Tenure lengths were much more variable before the Collegium. Post-Collegium CJIs tend to have more uniformly short tenures, likely due to a more systematic but seniority-driven selection that does not prioritize long-term leadership.
Overall Implications:
- The Collegium system may be promoting shorter and more predictable tenures.
- There is less room for long-serving CJIs, which may affect continuity and long-term judicial reform initiatives.
- The decline in variance also suggests a more formulaic and less discretionary approach in post-Collegium appointments.
