THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Supreme Court released the appointment figures on Tuesday to counter the propaganda of nepotism in the judiciary. The Supreme Court has shown statistics that only a little over six per cent of the high court judge appointments made in the past two and a half years were to relatives of the judges.

The figures revealed are from November 9, 2022, when D.Y. Chandrachud took office as Chief Justice, to May 5, when Sanjiv Khanna continued as Chief Justice. During Chandrachud's tenure, the Supreme Court Collegium recommended 303 people for appointment as High Court judges and the Central Government approved the appointment of 170. Only 12 of them are relatives of judges.

After Sanjiv Khanna took charge as Chief Justice on November 11, 2024, 103 people were recommended for appointment as High Court judges. Of the 51 appointed, only two are relatives of Supreme Court and High Court judges.

The Supreme Court clarified that the appointments of High Court judges for the past two and a half years have given representation to backward classes, minorities and women.

The central government has not yet decided on the appointment of 29 people out of those recommended during the two and a half years. Meanwhile, the details of the Supreme Court and High Court judge appointment process have also been released on the website.