# Collegium approves judges for Gauhati, Orissa, Chhattisgarh High Courts 2026-08-18T18:20:18+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 3 independent outlets (6 source reports) The Supreme Court Collegium, headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant, on August 18 approved appointments of judges for three High Courts. For the Gauhati High Court, the Collegium recommended advocate Nchumbemo Mozhui and judicial officer Helen Dawngliani. For the Orissa High Court, it recommended advocates Sasmita Tripathy, Aditya Narayan Das, Rajjeet Roy and Gautam Misra. For the Chhattisgarh High Court, judicial officers Santosh Sharma, Sushma Sawant and Sudhir Kumar were approved for elevation. The appointments are subject to notification by the central government. Barandbench.com noted that the Orissa High Court has only 17 active judges against a sanctioned strength of 33, with two more judges retiring this year. The Chhattisgarh High Court has 13 judges against a sanctioned strength of 22. In a separate recommendation from May, the Collegium has proposed Justice Meenakshi M Rai of the Sikkim High Court as the next Chief Justice of the Patna High Court, following the incumbent's retirement on June 4. ## Indian Opinion Analysis The coverage is uniform straight reporting across all outlets. Livelaw.in and Barandbench.com published separate, fact-only announcements for each High Court. Millenniumpost.in carries an older, standalone recommendation for Patna HC. No outlet adds commentary on delays, vacancies, or the Collegium process. A careful reader should note the aggregate picture: in a single meeting, the Collegium addressed vacancies in three High Courts, Gauhati, Orissa (16 vacancies), and Chhattisgarh (9 vacancies), but the separate stories do not connect them. The next data point to watch is whether the Centre notifies these appointments before the next hearing on judicial vacancies in the Supreme Court. ## Coverage Coverage: 6 sources, 6 neutral - livelaw.in (neutral report) Straight wire-style report of appointments, no framing beyond the facts. - livelaw.in (2) (neutral report) Plain announcement with no additional context or commentary. - livelaw.in (3) (neutral report) Brief factual report of approvals, identical in structure to other livelaw pieces. - barandbench.com (neutral report) Added vacancy context: 16 posts unfilled in Orissa High Court. Otherwise neutral. - barandbench.com (2) (neutral report) Added vacancy context: 9 posts unfilled in Chhattisgarh High Court. Otherwise neutral. - millenniumpost.in (neutral report) Older story (May 24) on Patna HC chief justice recommendation. Standalone news item. This story was synthesised by AI from the 6 sources linked above. Updated: this story now draws on 6 sources. Last updated 2026-08-20T01:26:56+00:00. Tags: Chhattisgarh High Court, Gauhati High Court, Orissa High Court, Supreme Court collegium, Surya Kant Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/supreme-court-collegium-recommends-9-judges-for-3-high-courts/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/supreme-court-collegium-recommends-9-judges-for-3-high-courts/#story-in-brief How this brief was made: an AI model read the reports linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. Stance labels are editorial classifications of how each outlet framed this story, assigned by the same model, not ratings of the outlets. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/