ON SATURDAY, the President approved the warrant of appointment of Justice A. Muhamed Mustaque as Chief Justice of the Sikkim High Court. A notification to this effect was published last evening. Earlier this morning, Justice Mustaque was sworn in as Chief Justice of the Sikkim High Court by the Governor of Sikkim, Om Prakash Mathur. Chief Minister of Sikkim Prem Singh Tamang was also present at the ceremony.
Justice Mustaque is the senior-most judge at the Kerala High Court. He was appointed as a judge of the Kerala High Court on January 23, 2014 and is due to retire on May 31, 2029.
On December 18 last year, the Supreme Court Collegium had made a recommendation to appoint him as Chief Justice of the Sikkim High Court.
He has also discharged functions as Acting Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court from July 5, 2024 to September 26, 2024.
Earlier this week, the Union government cleared the appointment of Chief Justices to the High Courts of Meghalaya, Patna, Jharkhand, and Kerala.
Justice Revati Mohite-Dere from the Bombay High Court was appointed as Chief Justice of the Meghalaya High Court. The incumbent Chief Justice there, Justice Soumen Sen, was transferred to the Kerala High Court as Chief Justice upon the retirement of the current Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court on January 9, 2026.
Justice Sangam Kumar Sahoo from the Orissa High Court was appointed as the Chief Justice of the Patna High Court.
Justice M.S. Sonak, a judge of the Bombay High Court, was appointed as Chief Justice of the Jharkhand High Court.
The government is yet to act on the Collegium’s recommendation to appoint Justice Manoj Kumar Gupta, a judge of the Allahabad High Court, as Chief Justice of the Uttarakhand High Court.