NEW DELHI: Amid the controversy over Acting Chief Justice Sanjeev Prakash Sharma, the Supreme Court Collegium on Monday recommended the appointment of Chhattisgarh High Court judge Justice Sanjay K Agrawal as Chief Justice of the Rajasthan High Court.
Presently a judge of the Chhattisgarh High Court, Justice Agrawal was appointed an Additional Judge in September 2013 and made permanent in March 2016. He had earlier also served as Advocate General of Chhattisgarh.
The SC Collegium -- a judicial body headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant and other senior-most judges -- also recommended at a meeting on Monday that Justice Agrawal be transferred to the Rajasthan High Court immediately, pending his elevation as Chief Justice, to enable him to join as the senior-most judge there.
The move gains significance after Supreme Court judge Justice Sandeep Mehta recently wrote to CJI Kant seeking the transfer of Justice Sharma out of Rajasthan and the appointment of a regular Chief Justice from another High Court, while levelling serious allegations regarding the exercise of administrative powers and case listings by the Acting Chief Justice.
The issue has also led to protests by lawyers at the Jaipur and Jodhpur benches of the Rajasthan High Court, who have demanded that Justice Sharma be divested of his charge as Acting Chief Justice.
