SC Collegium Recommends 7 Names For Chief Justices of High Courts; Justice Sunita Agarwal May Be Lone Current Female HC Chief Justice

The Supreme Court collegium recommended the appointment of Chief Justices of seven high courts --- Kerala, Orissa, Manipur, Andhra Pradesh, Bombay, Telangana and Gujarat --- through a slew of resolutions late Wednesday night. If the same is approved by the Central government, the Gujarat High Court will have the only woman chief justice of a high court at present. 

The Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud-headed Collegium comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Sanjeev Khanna proposed to appoint Justice Sunita Agarwal as the Chief Justice of the High Court of Gujarat, Justice Ashish J Desai as the Chief Justice of Kerala High Court, Justice Subhasis Talapatra as the Chief Justice of Orissa High Court, Justice Siddharth Mridul as the Chief Justice of Manipur High Court, Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur as the Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh High Court, Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya as the Chief Justice of Bombay High Court, and Justice Alok Aradhe as the Chief Justice of Telangana High Court. 

Justice Ashish J Desai is the Acting Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court while Justice Subhasis Talapatra is a judge at the Orissa High Court. Justice Siddharth Mridul is a judge of the Delhi High Court and Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur is a judge of the Bombay High Court. Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya is a judge of the Allahabad High Court and Justice Alok Aradhe is a judge of the Karnataka High Court.

Only woman chief justice of a High Court

In a letter dated July 5, 2023, the Collegium reported that the appointment of Justice Sunita Agarwal will make her 'the only woman Chief Justice of a High Court as presently there is no woman among the Chief Justices of the High Courts'. 

"On the appointment of Ms Justice Sunita Agarwal, the Allahabad High Court would have a second Chief Justice among the Chief Justices of the High Courts. Besides, while considering the name of Ms Justice Sunita Agarwal, the Collegium has taken into consideration the fact that she would be the only woman Chief Justice of a High Court as presently there is no woman among the Chief Justices of the High Courts," the Collegium noted in its letter.

Justice Agarwal was appointed as an Additional Judge of the Allahabad High Court, the largest high court, on November 21, 2011, and she is currently the senior-most puisne Judge in her parent High Court. She took oath as a permanent judge on August 6, 2013. According to Bar and Bench, Justice Agarwal graduated from Awadh University in 1989 and enrolled as an advocate on December 16, 1990. 

The current Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court is Justice Ashish J Desai, who has been recommended to be appointed as the Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court.