New Delhi: Supreme Court judge Justice Sandeep Mehta has written to Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant seeking the “immediate” appointment of a Chief Justice from outside Rajasthan to head the state’s High Court, alleging that its acting Chief Justice, Sanjeev Prakash Sharma, has misused his administrative powers to favour influential litigants.
The letters by Justice Mehta dated August 2, 10 and 17, accessed by Hindustan Times, accuse Justice Sharma of maladministration, nepotism and favouritism, and allege that he has used his position as master of the roster to selectively pull cases onto his own bench.
In his August 10 letter, Justice Mehta cited two instances he described as evidence of Justice Sharma trying to “hit longer sixes” ahead of his scheduled retirement on September 26, according to HT.
The first involved a batch of appeals concerning what Justice Mehta called “priceless lands” in Udaipur, which he alleged were moved to Justice Sharma’s Jaipur bench despite an earlier ruling by Sharma himself that such matters belonged before the principal seat at Jodhpur.
Justice Mehta also flagged that senior advocate Kamlakar Sharma, appearing for one of the parties, had a daughter-in-law whose elevation as a High Court judge Justice Sharma was allegedly backing.
Court registry manipulated: Justice Mehta
The second concerned a challenge filed by mining businessman Meghraj Singh against a single judge’s order passed under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). Justice Mehta alleged that although no special appeal could lie against such an order, the court registry was manipulated to register it as a Special Appeal Writ and list it before Justice Sharma’s bench, which went on to condone a 457-day delay and stay part of the single judge’s directions on the very first hearing.
The petitioner’s lawyer, Sandeep Singh Shekhawat, had reportedly been associated with Justice Sharma during his years in practice, Justice Mehta wrote, according to HT. “These instances manifest brazen misuse of powers by the Acting Chief Justice Mr. S.P. Sharma in order to favour influential parties and smack of corruption,” he wrote.
Building delay, conference spending flagged
The August 17 letter widened the allegations to cover the administration of the High Court more broadly, HTreported. Justice Mehta referred to a message he said was written by fellow High Court judge Justice Uma Shankar Vyas expressing distress over what he called vindictive treatment of his wife, a senior district judiciary officer, at Justice Sharma’s hands.
He also alleged that Justice Sharma had unilaterally held up the inauguration of the newly completed 40-court Jodhpur District Court (Metro) building and ordered sweeping changes to its infrastructure, despite several courts in the area still functioning out of rented premises. The building was eventually inaugurated by the CJI on August 15, after Justice Mehta and fellow Supreme Court judge Justice Vijay Bishnoi requested him to do so, according to the letter HT accessed.
Justice Mehta further alleged that a three-day international conference held in Jaipur from July 31 to August 2 had left the Jodhpur principal seat without a functioning court for two days, after nearly all High Court judges and 20 to 22 district judges were nominated to attend. He claimed the event, organised largely by lawyers’ bodies, cost the state exchequer around Rs 80 lakh.
Separately, he alleged that a full court meeting on July 31 had been used to push, without success, a proposal to designate around 96 advocates as senior advocates without a uniform criterion.
Rajasthan HC judges allege threats of transfer
According to HT, Justice Mehta wrote that several Rajasthan High Court judges had complained to him during his visits about Justice Sharma’s conduct, including alleged threats of retributive transfers. “Numerous Judges of Rajasthan High Court have met me and expressed their anguish at the behaviour of Mr Justice SP Sharma, who frequently threatens his colleague Judges of retributive action including transfer claiming his closeness with Hon’ble the Chief Justice of India,” he wrote.
Justice Mehta also alleged that Justice Sharma held a “seriously skewed and biased perception” against the Jodhpur principal seat and had been heard saying he would “destroy the very fabric” of the seat.
Justice Mehta wrote that he had raised similar concerns with the CJI Kant earlier, and that the CJI had first asked for a list of such cases before later telling him a written complaint was unnecessary and assuring him “suitable action” would follow.
“However, till date, the request to have a Chief Justice from another State in my parent High Court has met no positive response,” he wrote, adding in his final letter that continued inaction was “wholly against the interest of the Institution.”
Background of Justice Sharma
Justice Sharma was appointed a Rajasthan High Court judge in November 2016 and transferred to the Patna High Court in January 2022. A request for repatriation to Rajasthan on health grounds was declined by the Supreme Court Collegium in March 2023, which instead moved him to the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
The Collegium recommended his repatriation to Rajasthan in May 2025. He has been acting Chief Justice of the Rajasthan High Court for over 10 months, since Justice S Shriram, who held the post from July to September 2025, demitted office.
Justice Mehta was appointed to the Rajasthan High Court in May 2011, became Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court in February 2023 and was elevated to the Supreme Court in November 2023.There was no response from Justice Sharma to the allegations in the HT report at the time of publication of this report.
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