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The Supreme Court Collegium, on Thursday, February 27, recommended the appointment of Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari as the next Chief Justice of the Madras High Court, in view of the impending retirement of incumbent Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava on March 5.
The recommendation was taken at the Collegium’s meeting held on February 26. The Supreme Court Collegium comprises Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Vikram Nath and JK Maheshwari.
Justice Dharmadhikari, who is presently serving at the Kerala High Court on transfer from his parent Madhya Pradesh High Court, is expected to assume charge on March 6 if the appointment is cleared.
The Collegium noted that the decision follows a newly adopted policy under which a judge designated to become a Chief Justice is transferred to the concerned High Court around two months before the vacancy arises. The policy, the Collegium said, is aimed at strengthening “the efficiency and quality of the administration of justice” by allowing the incoming Chief Justice to become familiar with the court’s functioning in advance.
Justice Dharmadhikari’s elevation will supersede Justice Atul Sreedharan, who is precedes him in all-India seniority. However, the Collegium’s statement did not disclose the reasons for the supersession.
Just a day before the news of his elevation emerged, Justice Dharmadhikari was part of a division bench of the Kerala High Court that heard an urgent late-night appeal concerning the release of the film The Kerala Story 2: Goes Beyond. The hearing began at 7.30 pm and continued until 10 pm, an unusual occurrence for the court. The next morning, the division bench cleared the film for release.
Justice Dharmadhikari’s judicial career spans constitutional matters, tax litigation, and major public interest cases. Long before his elevation to the bench, he served as counsel for the Welfare Commissioner for victims of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy. Years later, as a judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, he was appointed Welfare Commissioner overseeing relief and rehabilitation for survivors. During that tenure, he made pointed observations on delays in disbursal of compensation, stating, “The survivors of this tragedy have already waited decades for justice. We cannot allow bureaucratic red tape to become a second disaster for them. Technology and law must move faster than the suffering of the people.”
In tax jurisprudence, Justice Dharmadhikari has delivered several notable rulings enforcing litigation discipline. He dismissed multiple revenue appeals in line with CBDT Circular No. 9 of 2024, which raised the monetary threshold for filing appeals before High Courts to Rs 2 crore, while clarifying that the underlying questions of law would remain open.
Born on July 8, 1966, in Raipur, Justice Dharmadhikari enrolled as an advocate at the Madhya Pradesh High Court in 1992 and served as Standing Counsel for the Union government from 2000 to 2015, representing bodies including the Income Tax Department and the Reserve Bank of India. He was appointed an Additional Judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court in April 2016, made permanent in March 2018, and transferred to the Kerala High Court in April 2025.
The Collegium has also recommended the transfer of Justice Lisa Gill from the Punjab and Haryana High Court to the Andhra Pradesh High Court for her appointment as Chief Justice upon the retirement of the incumbent on April 26, 2026.
