A fresh confrontation has erupted between the Punjab government and the Centre over the appointment of Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra as the new Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, with the state government alleging that established procedures were bypassed.
The Punjab Cabinet on Sunday passed a resolution opposing the appointment and appealed to the President, Prime Minister and Punjab Governor not to administer the oath to Justice Mishra until the state government’s views are taken into consideration.
The Cabinet alleged that the Centre had acted unilaterally on an issue concerning the state and accused the BJP-led Union government of “doing injustice to Punjab”. The move is likely to deepen the ongoing political friction between the AAP-led state government and the Centre.
Justice Mishra, who was transferred from the Allahabad High Court to the Punjab and Haryana High Court in July 2025, has been serving as its Acting Chief Justice since June this year, following the elevation of then Chief Justice Sheel Nagu to the Supreme Court.
The Centre notified his appointment as regular Chief Justice on Saturday, nearly a month after the Supreme Court Collegium recommended his elevation. The Punjab government, however, had not conveyed its response to the Centre on the recommendation.
The Union Law Ministry had forwarded the Collegium’s recommendation to the state government seeking its comments. Punjab maintained that it was yet to communicate its views when the Centre proceeded with the appointment.
Following the notification, Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann convened an emergency Cabinet meeting on Sunday evening to discuss the appointment and the procedure followed by the Centre. The meeting was conducted through video-conferencing, with ministers attending from the offices of Deputy Commissioners in their respective districts as several of them were not in Chandigarh.
Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said the prescribed procedure for the appointment had not been followed.
“All procedures for the appointment of the Chief Justice, as detailed in various letters, were ignored while notifying his appointment. The BJP is ignoring the Constitution to push its political agenda in Punjab,” Cheema said.
Cheema described the development as an “attack on the state’s constitutional rights and the federal structure” and said the government would examine the legal and constitutional options available to it.
The Punjab government’s objection has also brought renewed attention to the process governing the appointment of Chief Justices of High Courts and the respective roles of the judiciary, the Union government and the state government.
According to sources, Punjab Governor Gulab Chand Kataria had written to Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on August 12, 2026, referring to paragraph 6 of a letter from Union Law and Justice Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal. The state government has cited the communication in support of its contention that the state’s concurrence was required before proceeding with the appointment.
Cheema also referred to the earlier case of Justice G.S. Sandhawalia, saying the Madhya Pradesh government had kept his proposed appointment pending for about two months. Justice Sandhawalia, then the senior-most judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, was subsequently appointed Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court.
The Punjab government has argued that a different approach was adopted in Justice Mishra’s case and that the standard procedure was not followed.
