Back
Justice V Kameswar Rao Recommended as Chief Justice by Collegium
The Collegium has set in motion a fresh round of high-level judicial appointments. Meeting on , the Collegium—led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant—recommended Justice V. Kameswar Rao, a serving judge of the , for elevation as Chief Justice of the .
The recommendation forms part of a four-judge slate. The Collegium also proposed Justice Ravindra V. Ghuge, currently Acting Chief Justice of the , for the ; Justice Mahesh Chandra Tripathi of the for the ; and Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra, currently serving at the , for its Chief Justiceship.
A Carefully Crafted Slate
Justice Rao's judicial profile includes stints at two High Courts. He was elevated as an Additional Judge of the in and became permanent in . Transferred to the in 2024, he served as Acting Chief Justice there in before being repatriated to Delhi on .
Justice Ghuge has been holding charge as Acting Chief Justice of the since the elevation of Justice Shree Chandrashekhar to the . Justice Tripathi is a senior judge. Justice Mishra, whose parent High Court is Allahabad, was transferred to Punjab and Haryana on and has been Acting Chief Justice there since , following Justice Sheel Nagu's elevation to the .
An Appointment, Not a Judgment
This is not a conventional case with opposing parties. The Collegium's resolution is an exercise of a constitutional function—the recommendation of names for appointment. The next step belongs to the , which processes the names under the before warrants issue in the name of the President.
In the same meeting, the Collegium proposed two transfers: Justice Manash Ranjan Pathak from the to the , and Justice Krushna Ram Mohapatra from the to the .
Filling a Widening Gap
The appointments come as seven of India's 25 High Courts are functioning without permanent Chief Justices. Patna, Calcutta, Bombay and Punjab and Haryana are all in that bracket. The currently has 43 judges against a of 53; the has 41 against 72. Regular Chief Justices, once appointed, will help ease the administrative burden on Acting Chief Justices such as Justice Sudhir Singh of Patna.
What the Collegium Recorded
The Collegium's official statement was brief but precise:
"TheCollegium in its meeting held onhas recommended elevation of Judges as Chief Justices of the High Courts, as mentioned below."
On the transfers, it stated:
"TheCollegium in its meeting held onhas recommended transfer of following Judges of the High Courts."
With the names now in the government's pipeline, the next item on the calendar is approval and notification. For Justice Rao, the path from the to the Chief Justice's office in Patna has cleared its first major hurdle.
