The Supreme Court Collegium has recommended the appointment of Justice Sanjay K Agrawal of the Chhattisgarh High Court as the Chief Justice of the Rajasthan High Court, Bar & Bench has exclusively learnt.

Justice Agrawal is presently a judge of the Chhattisgarh High Court. He was elevated as an Additional Judge of that Court in September 2013 and made a permanent judge in March 2016. Before his elevation, he had served as the Advocate General of Chhattisgarh. Significantly, the Collegium has also proposed that Justice Agrawal be immediately transferred to the Rajasthan High Court, pending his appointment as its Chief Justice.

The move would mean that even if the process for his appointment as Chief Justice takes time, Justice Agrawal would join the Rajasthan High Court as its senior-most judge.

The development assumes significance in the backdrop of the controversy surrounding the present Acting Chief Justice of the Rajasthan High Court, Justice Sanjeev Prakash Sharma.

Supreme Court judge Justice Sandeep Mehta recently wrote to CJI Surya Kant seeking Justice Sharma's transfer out of Rajasthan and appointment of a regular Chief Justice from another High Court. Justice Mehta levelled allegations concerning the exercise of administrative powers and case listings by the Acting Chief Justice.

The controversy has also triggered protests by lawyers at both the Jaipur and Jodhpur benches of the Rajasthan High Court, with lawyers demanding that Justice Sharma be divested of his charge as Acting Chief Justice.

In a significant development on Sunday, Justice Sharma opted himself out of judicial work. A fresh roster finalised by him does not assign any regular judicial sitting to the Acting Chief Justice from September 1 to September 5. Matters which were earlier assigned to his Bench have been allocated to other Benches.

Justice Agrawal, if appointed, will take over as the regular Chief Justice of the Rajasthan High Court.