Amid Protests by Lawyers Against Acting Chief Justice, SC Collegium Recommends New CJ For Rajasthan High Court

New Delhi: Amid allegations by a sitting Supreme Court judge and protests by lawyers in Rajasthan against acting chief justice (CJ) of the Rajasthan high court Sanjeev Prakash Sharma, the Supreme Court Collegium on Monday (August 31) recommended Chhattisgarh high court judge Sanjay K. Agarwal as the chief justice of the Rajasthan high court, reported Indian Express.

Hours before the collegium’s recommendation, acting CJ Sharma went on leave amid protests, with the updated roster of the Jaipur bench indicating that the acting CJ will not be holding any sitting from September 1 to September 5.

Earlier, as per the roster on August 24 by the acting CJ for the Jaipur Bench from August 31, Sharma had listed PIL matters, special appeals, all income tax Matters including income tax appeals, contempt matters, all matters filed by or against high court as well as civil writ petitions (not assigned to Division Bench 2 and 3) under a division bench (DB) which included him and Justice Sangeeta Sharma.

But with lawyers protesting against the acting CJ, he altered the roster on Monday, reported Indian Express.

But according to the fresh roster on Monday, a DB of Justices Inderjeet Singh and Sandeep Taneja has been tasked with all the matters which were previously with the DB of acting CJ Sharma and Justice Sangeeta Sharma, excluding arbitration matters.

Justice Sandeep Mehta of the Supreme Court had written to Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant on August 2, 10 and 17, seeking the appointment of a Chief Justice from outside Rajasthan and, ultimately, Justice Sharma’s transfer. In his letter, Justice Mehta had raised issues concerning case listings and the exercise of administrative authority.

The letters and complaint are not publicly available, and Justice Sharma has not publicly responded. The CJI has, however, said in the press statement that Justice Sharma must be given a fair opportunity to place his response before any conclusion is reached, and that the process will consider both Justice Mehta’s material and Justice Sharma’s response.

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