President Droupadi Murmu Appoints New Chief Justices in 5 High Courts

President Droupadi Murmu has appointed five new Chief Justices of the High Courts of Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Gauhati, Patna, and Jharkhand. The President has also transferred the Chief Justices of four High Courts. 

The notification was issued by the Union Ministry of Law and Justice following the President's acceptance of the Supreme Court Collegium's recommendation, headed by the Chief Justice of India. 

The collegium, on 26 May 2025, had recommended the names of judges to be appointed as Chief Justices of various High Courts and to be transferred from one High Court to another.

Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva appointed M P High Court Chief Justice

Justice Sanjeev Sachedva, who was the acting Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court since 24 May 2025, has been appointed as the Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court.

He will be the 29th Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court.

Seat of the Madhya Pradesh High Court- Jabalpur. It has benches in Gwalior and Indore.

Total strength of the High Court- 53 judges, including the Chief Justice.

First Chief Justice -Justice M.Hidayatullah

Justice Vipul Manubhai Pancholi as the Patna High Court Chief Justice 

Justice Vipul Manubhai Pancholi, currently a judge of the Patna High Court, has been elevated to the position of Chief Justice of the same court. 

He will succeed Acting Chief Justice  Ashutosh Kumar.

Justice Vipul  Manubhai Pancholi will be the 45th Chief Justice of the Patna High Court.

Seat of the High Court- Patna (Bihar)

Total strength of the High Court-  53 judges, including the Chief Justice 

First Chief Justice - Sir Edward Maynerd Champs Chamier

Justice Vibhu Bakhru as the Karnataka High Court Chief Justice 

Justice Vibhu Bakhru of the Delhi High Court has been appointed as the Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court.

He will replace Acting Chief Justice V.Kameshwar Rao.

Justice Bakhru will be the 35th Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court.

Seat - Bengaluru. It has benches at Dharwad and Kalaburagi

Total strength of the High Court- 62 judges, including the Chief Justice 

First Chief Justice - Justice R Venkatramaiah 

Justice Ashutosh Kumar as Gauhati High Court Chief Justice 

Justice Ashutosh Kumar of Patna High Court has been appointed as the Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court.

He will succeed Acting Chief Justice Lanusungkum Jamir.

He will be the 43rd Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court.

The Gauhati High Court is the High Court of Assam, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram.

Seat of High Court- Guwahati (Assam)

Benches -  Kohima (Nagaland), Aizawl (Mizoram), Itanagar (Arunachal Pradesh)

Total strength of the Court- 24 Judges, including the Chief Justice.

First Chief Justice - Justice R.F. Lodge

Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan as the Jharkhand High Court Chief Justice 

Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan, a sitting judge of the Himachal Pradesh High Court, has been appointed Chief Justice of the Jharkhand High Court.

He will succeed Justice M.S. Ramachandra Rao, who has been transferred to the Tripura High Court.

He will be the 17th Chief Justice of the Jharkhand High Court.

Seat- Ranchi 

Total Strength of High Court- 25 judges, including the Chief Justice 

First Chief Justice - Justice Vinod Kumar Gupta

Chief Justice, who has been transferred to another High Court

The following is the list of Chief Justices who have been transferred.

Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava- Transferred from the Rajasthan High Court to the Madras High Court.

Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh- Transferred from the Tripura High Court to the Telangana High Court.

Justice M.S. Ramachandra Rao- Transferred from the Jharkhand High Court to the Tripura High Court.

Justice K.R. Shriram- Transferred from the Madras High Court to the Rajasthan High Court.

Appointment of High Court Judges 

The President of India appoints the Chief Justice of a High Court (Article 217(1)). The President consults the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and the Governor of the state where the principal jurisdiction of the High Court lies before appointing a Chief Justice of a High Court.

However, in reality, the consultation with the Chief Justice of India means consultation with a collegium of the Supreme Court.

In the Third Judge case 1998, the Supreme Court ruled that a  “Collegium consists of the Chief Justice of India and four senior-most judges of the Supreme Court”.

The name recommended by the collegium is binding on the President of India.