Judge Mehta of the Supreme Court reports “favouritism, roster misuse” at the Rajasthan High Court and requests a new Chief Justice on a full-time basis.

Justice Sandeep Mehta of the Supreme Court has called for the Rajasthan High Court, his home high court, to appoint a full-time Chief Justice right away. Justice Mehta outlined several reasons in three letters that were issued between August 3 and August 27.

Among them was the present acting chief justice’s purported abuse of master of the roster authority, which is scheduled to expire next month. Since October of last year, Justice S.P. Sharma has served as the Rajasthan High Court’s acting Chief Justice. A judge cannot be appointed as the chief justice of their parent high court in accordance with recognized convention. Nonetheless, the Supreme Court collegium may designate such a judge as a full-time Chief Justice if their term is only three months.

Sources in the Supreme Court told that Justice Mehta’s allegations prevented the Chief Justice of India Surya Kant-led collegium from confirming Justice Sharma as a full-time Chief Justice of the Rajasthan High Court, despite the fact that the judge has one month remaining for superannuation.

Chief justices for four high courts—Patna, Calcutta, Bombay, Punjab, and Haryana—were approved by the appointment authority on August 6. No decision was made to name a chief judge in Rajasthan, despite judge Mehta’s grave worries regarding Justice Sharma’s operations there.

Citing health issues, Justice Sharma asked the then-Supreme Court collegium headed by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud in 2023 to return him to Rajasthan. Justice Sharma cannot be returned to Rajasthan, according to the collegium resolution, which is also accessible online. However, the collegium decided to move him to the Punjab and Haryana High Court because of his health issues and the lack of suitable facilities for this treatment in Patna.

However, Justice Sharma was returned to the Rajasthan High Court by the top court collegium in May of last year. Justice Sharma has been serving as the Rajasthan High Court’s acting chief justice since Justice S. Shriram retired.