Governor Administers Oath To New Rajasthan High Court Chief Justice Sanjay Agrawal

Justice Sanjay Kumar Agrawal was sworn in as the 44th Chief Justice of the Rajasthan High Court on Monday, at a ceremony held at Lok Bhawan in Jaipur. Rajasthan Governor Haribhau Bagade administered the oath of office and secrecy to Justice Agrawal, formally ending nearly a year in which the court had functioned without a permanent chief justice at its helm, a gap that had drawn considerable attention from both the judiciary and the legal fraternity in the state. The Centre notified Justice Agrawal's appointment on Saturday night, about a month after the Supreme Court Collegium recommended his elevation on August 31. After taking the oath, Justice Agrawal signed the warrant of appointment issued by the President of India, completing the formalities required to assume charge of the court's judicial and administrative functions.

With his swearing-in, Justice Agrawal now takes on responsibility for the day-to-day administration of one of India's larger high courts, including matters relating to case listings, bench allocations and the overall functioning of the judicial system in Rajasthan. Justice Agrawal, whose parent court is the Chhattisgarh High Court, was first appointed as an additional judge there in September 2013 before being made a permanent judge in March 2016, giving him more than a decade of experience on the bench prior to his elevation to the top post in Rajasthan. Prior to his judicial career, he served as the advocate general of Chhattisgarh, a role that placed him at the center of the state's legal apparatus and gave him considerable experience representing government interests in court before his appointment to the judiciary.

The swearing-in ceremony was attended by a wide array of senior state officials, reflecting the significance accorded to the appointment within Rajasthan's political and administrative establishment. Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma, Deputy Chief Ministers Diya Kumari and Prem Chand Bairwa, several state ministers, Chief Secretary V. Srinivas and sitting judges of the Rajasthan High Court were all present at Lok Bhawan for the ceremony, underscoring the coordination between the judiciary and the state government on an occasion of this scale. Enhanced security arrangements had reportedly been put in place ahead of the event in view of the presence of senior constitutional functionaries and officials.

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Justice Agrawal's appointment comes against the backdrop of a prolonged controversy surrounding the administration of the Rajasthan High Court over the past year. The post of chief justice had remained vacant for an extended period, with Justice Sanjeev Prakash Sharma serving as acting chief justice since September 2025 amid serious allegations raised by Supreme Court judge Justice Sandeep Mehta, whose parent high court is also Rajasthan. Justice Mehta had written a series of letters to Chief Justice of India Surya Kant — dated August 2, 10 and 17 — accusing Justice Sharma of corruption, nepotism, favouritism and misuse of administrative powers, including in the exercise of his authority over the listing of cases before the court.

In those letters, Justice Mehta had specifically urged the appointment of a permanent chief justice from outside the state in order to address the concerns he had raised about the functioning of the court under the acting leadership. The controversy had also drawn concern from the legal community in Rajasthan more broadly, with the lawyers' association in Jodhpur separately pressing for the swift appointment of a permanent chief justice to restore stability and public confidence in the court's day-to-day functioning. The prolonged vacancy at the top of the court had, according to several accounts, created uncertainty among litigants and practitioners alike regarding the administration of justice at the state's highest judicial forum.

With Monday's ceremony, the Rajasthan High Court now has a regular chief justice for the first time in close to a year, a development that legal observers say is expected to help settle the administrative disputes that had clouded the court's operations in recent months. Justice Agrawal's appointment is widely seen as a step toward restoring confidence in the court's leadership structure, and his tenure will likely be watched closely in legal and administrative circles as he takes charge of streamlining judicial administration and addressing the concerns that had accumulated during the period the court operated without a permanent head.

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