27 SC Judges on CJI Lalit J’s retirement day [08/11/2022] turned to 28 with Datta J’s arrival [12/12/2022] and 27 again on Nazeer J’s retirement [04/01/2023]. A month later [06/02/2023], 5 Judges were elevated to SC [Mithal, Karol, S. Kumar, Amanullah, M. Misra JJ]. Also, within a week [13/02/2023], 2 more Judges were elevated to SC [Bindal and A. Kumar JJ]. Thus, 27 on Nazeer J’s retirement [04/01/2023] turned to our special ’34’.

Maheshwari and Shah JJ retired on 14/05/2023 and 15/05/2023 respectively. Near immediately [19/05/2023], a day before SC Summer Holidays 2023, P. Mishra and Viswanathan JJ stood elevated. ’34’ it remained.

During those very Summer Holidays, 3 SC Judges [Joseph, Rastogi, Ramasubramanian JJ] retired and, a little after, Murari J retired [08/07/2023]. ’34’ that turned to 30, on Murari J’s retirement, met with elevation of only 2 [Bhuyan and Bhatti JJ] within a week [14/07/2023]. It remained 32 for more than 3 months until it turned to 31 with Bhat J’s retirement [20.10.2023]. In less than a month after Bhat J’s retirement, we again returned to ’34’ with elevation of Sharma, Masih, Mehta JJ [09/11/2023].

Kaul J’s retirement [25/12/2023] faced no notable wait and had Varale J elevated [25/01/2024]. ’34’ it was from that bottom-half January to top-half April.

Bose J retired on 10/04/2024. We are 33. SC Summer Holidays 2024 shall have Bopanna J retire [19.05.2024], 2 days into it. We will be 32. Keep aside Kohli J’s retirement [01/09/2024], who shall be our last SC J to retire in 2024 before our CJI Dr. D.Y. Chandrachud J retires himself. The question really is, will Bose J’s retirement meet a return to ’34’ before SC Summer Holidays 2024 begin [like P. Mishra and Viswanathan JJ stood elevated for us to conclude with a ’34’ right before SC Summer Holidays 2023 begun] or will a 32 turn to ’34’ only in July 2024, or thereafter, once SC Summer Holidays 2024 have ended and Election Results are clear as crystal? ‘Busy’ or ‘We follow no pattern’, is never really an answer.