Supreme Court Collegium Recommends Major HC Chief Justice Appointments
New Delhi: The Supreme Court Collegium, in a meeting held on August 6, has recommended key appointments of Chief Justices across four High Courts, including Bombay, Calcutta, Patna, and Punjab and Haryana. The appointments are now subject to approval by the Central government.
The Collegium has recommended Justice Ravindra V. Ghuge, presently serving as the Acting Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court, for appointment as the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court. Justice Ghuge completed his law degree from MP Law College, Aurangabad in 1990 and enrolled as an advocate the same year. He began practice before the Bombay High Court and Industrial and Labour Courts, initially representing workers and unions in around 2,000 cases.
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The judge later represented about 250 industries, including several MNCs and large-scale private companies. He was elevated as a judge of the Bombay High Court in 2013. He took over as Acting Chief Justice in June this year after Justice Shree Chandrashekhar was elevated to the Supreme Court. Calcutta High Court is currently functioning with 41 judges against a sanctioned strength of 72.
The Collegium has recommended Allahabad High Court’s Justice Mahesh Chandra Tripathi as the next Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court. If approved, he will be the 38th Chief Justice of Bombay HC and the second from Allahabad. Justice Tripathi graduated from Lucknow University in 1990 and enrolled as an advocate in 1992.
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Justice Mahesh Chandra practice was primarily on the civil side. He served as Additional Chief Standing Counsel for Uttar Pradesh from 2007 and appeared for several state bodies including KDA, KNN, and various development authorities. Elevated as an additional judge on September 27, 2013, he became a permanent judge on April 10, 2015. He is currently the second senior-most judge at Allahabad HC.
Delhi High Court judge Justice V. Kameswar Rao has been recommended as Chief Justice of the Patna High Court. Justice Sudhir Singh is currently the Acting Chief Justice there. Justice Rao did his LLB from Delhi University in 1990 and enrolled in 1991. He has practiced before the Supreme Court, Delhi HC, and CAT. He was elevated to Delhi HC as additional judge in April 2013 and made permanent in March 2015. After a stint and acting charge as CJ in Karnataka HC in 2024-2025, he was repatriated to Delhi on July 21, 2025. Patna HC is working with 43 judges against a sanctioned strength of 53.
The Collegium has also recommended Acting Chief Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra as Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. He was appointed Acting CJ on June 1, 2026, after Justice Sheel Nagu’s elevation to the Supreme Court. Justice Mishra, an Allahabad HC judge since 2014, was transferred to Punjab and Haryana HC on July 21, 2025.
