Justice Mehta accused Justice Sharma of manipulating case listings in favour of rich litigants and misusing his administrative powers ahead of his retirement, due later next month.
In his August 2 letter, Justice Mehta referred to complaints allegedly made by judges of the Rajasthan High Court about Justice Sharma’s conduct. He also alleged that Justice Sharma had threatened fellow judges at the High Court with transfers by claiming proximity to the CJI.
The letters cited two division bench orders of the Rajasthan High Court. In a batch of appeals over what Justice Mehta calls “priceless lands” in the city of Udaipur, the cases were listed before Justice Sharma’s own bench at the Jaipur seat, despite an earlier judgment by Justice Sharma himself holding that such principal bench matters at Jodhpur seat could not be moved there.
Another letter of August 17 alleged that a sitting Rajasthan High Court judge – Justice Uma Shankar Vyas – complained to fellow judges of vindictive conduct by Justice Sharma towards his wife, a senior district judiciary officer.