The composition of the Indore bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court will change with the transfer of Justice Satish Chandra Sharma to the Karnataka High Court. Justice Prakash Shrivastava of Indore bench, who is being transferred to Jabalpur, will be number one in order of preference after the arrival of Justice Mohammad Rafiq as Chief Justice of the MP High Court. Justice Rafiq is set to take oath as Chief Justice in the next four-five days.
Justice Shrivastava can appear in the role of the administrative judge in the principal bench, Jabalpur. At the same time, Justice Rohit Arya can become the administrative judge in the Indore bench. Two judges are to be sent to the Indore bench to fill the shortage of judges.
As of November, there were 8 judges in the Indore bench, while a strength of 10 judges is approved. With the death of Justice Vandana Kasarekar in December, the number was down to 7. Now when Justice Sharma leaves and Justice Shrivastava moves to Jabalpur, it will come down further to 5. In view of this, two judges can be sent to Indore bench.
Apart from this, the appointment of administrative judges will also be needed on both benches. In all three benches, posts for 40 judges have been approved but only 27 are serving. For the last two years, no new judge has been appointed in Madhya Pradesh, while some judges have retired. Some 11 judges are due to retire in two years, of these 8 judges will call time next year and two of these are from the Indore bench. In such a situation, a shortage of judges is expected in all three benches.
Advocate Anand Aggarwal has written to the Chief Justice of India S.A. Bobde, suggesting that the services of retired judges be taken to resolve old appeals.