Seven High Courts Currently Functioning Under Acting Chief Justices

Seven High Courts across the country are presently being run by Acting Chief Justices, with the Bombay, Calcutta, Patna, Punjab and Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan High Courts all currently without a confirmed Chief Justice in place.

A High Court functions under an Acting Chief Justice when the substantive Chief Justice's post falls vacant, whether through retirement, transfer, or elevation to the Supreme Court, and the Collegium's recommendation for a successor has not yet been cleared by the government. An Acting Chief Justice carries out the administrative and judicial functions of the office, including roster allocation and case listing, but the arrangement is meant to be temporary pending a confirmed appointment cleared by the Supreme Court Collegium and notified by the Law Ministry. Legal practitioners in states with prolonged Acting Chief Justice arrangements have periodically flagged delays in constitution of larger benches for matters that conventionally require the Chief Justice's direct involvement.

The spread of vacancies across seven High Courts simultaneously reflects the pace at which Chief Justice transfers, retirements, and Supreme Court elevations have occurred in recent months, outstripping the rate at which the Supreme Court Collegium's recommendations for replacement Chief Justices have been processed and cleared by the Law Ministry, a bottleneck that has recurred periodically in the judicial appointments process.

Bombay and Calcutta rank among the country's oldest and largest High Courts by pendency and judge strength, making prolonged Acting Chief Justice arrangements at these courts particularly consequential for case management and administrative decisions that typically require a confirmed Chief Justice's authority. The Punjab and Haryana and Madhya Pradesh High Courts, both with substantial pending case loads, face similar administrative strain, as do Patna and Rajasthan, which have their own significant pendency figures. Jammu and Kashmir's High Court, which also exercises jurisdiction over Ladakh, has its own distinct administrative considerations given the Union Territory's reorganisation in recent years.

Five sitting Chief Justices across the High Court system are due to retire later this year, a wave of retirements that is likely to add further vacancies at the top of several more High Courts even as the current seven remain unresolved, putting additional pressure on the Collegium's recommendation process and on the Law Ministry's notification pipeline. The Supreme Court Collegium's recommendations for Chief Justice appointments are made public once finalised, though the interval between internal deliberation and public recommendation has varied considerably across recent appointment cycles.

The Collegium typically recommends Chief Justice appointments by rotating senior judges across High Courts, a practice meant to bring judges from outside a court's own bench to its top post, though the process has periodically faced delays once recommendations reach the government for final notification, delays that have drawn comment from legal commentators tracking judicial vacancies.

Judicial vacancy data tracked by legal researchers and parliamentary committees has periodically flagged the gap between sanctioned judge strength and working strength across High Courts, a gap that compounds when the Chief Justice's post itself also runs vacant for extended periods, since an Acting Chief Justice's administrative decisions can face procedural challenges in ways a confirmed Chief Justice's would not. The Law Ministry and the Supreme Court Collegium have periodically been urged by legal commentators to expedite Chief Justice appointments specifically, given the outsized administrative role the post plays compared to an ordinary judgeship.

All seven High Courts continue to function under their respective Acting Chief Justices pending confirmed appointments, according to available details on current vacancies.