Nearly One-Third High Courts In India Functioning Without Permanent Chief Justices

Seven out of 25 High Courts in the country are currently functioning without a permanent Chief Justice, with Acting Chief Justices heading these courts.

Four of these vacancies arose after Justice Sheel Nagu (Punjab and Haryana HC), Justice Chandrashekhar (Bombay HC), Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva (Madhya Pradesh HC), and Justice Arun Palli (Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh HC) were elevated as the judges of the Supreme Court in June 2026.

Subsequently, Acting Chief Justices Ashwani Kumar Mishra, Ravindra Vithalrao Ghughe, Vivek Rusia and Sanjeev Kumar were appointed to the respective High Courts.

At the Rajasthan High Court, Justice Sanjeev Prakash Sharma has been serving as the Acting Chief Justice since September 2025, after former Chief Justice Kalpathi Rajendra Shriram retired.

Similarly, Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty was appointed Acting Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court after Justice Sujoy Paul's retirement on June 20, 2026 and Justice Sudhir Singh was appointed Acting Chief Justice of the Patna High Court following the retirement of Justice Meenakshi M. Rai on July 11, 2026.

The Memorandum of Procedure (MoP) for appointment of High Court judges states that the appointment process for the Chief Justice must be initiated well in time to ensure its completion at least one month prior to the date of anticipated vacancy.

One in three High Court Judge seats empty

Almost one-third of High Court judge posts are vacant in India. As per the Department of Justice data, out of the total 1122 sanctioned seats, 341 are yet to be filled; this amounts to 30.39% vacancies in percentage.

Allahabad High Court has the most vacancies, with 52 of its 160 sanctioned posts lying vacant (33%). Calcutta High Court follows, with 31 of 72 posts empty (43%), while Punjab & Haryana High Court has 30 vacancies (35%) out of 85 sanctioned posts.

Meanwhile percentage-wise vacancies are highest in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court which stands at 52%, closely followed by Jharkhand High Court at 48% and Orissa High Court at 45%.

Only Meghalaya High Court has zero vacancy.