Punjab Cabinet asks Centre to halt Justice Mishra’s oath as High Court chief

The Aam Aadmi Party government in Punjab passed a Cabinet resolution on the evening of 6 September against the Centre’s notification appointing Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra as Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann wrote separately to President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking that the oath, listed for 7 September before the Governor, be stopped until the state’s views are taken and considered.

The Centre notified the appointment on 5 September, about a month after the Supreme Court Collegium, led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, recommended Mishra on 6 August. He has been Acting Chief Justice since 2 June 2026, after Chief Justice Sheel Nagu moved to the Supreme Court. Mishra has been a judge of the same High Court since 21 July 2025.

What Punjab says the Memorandum of Procedure required

Mann wrote on X that appointing a Chief Justice without the state government’s consent violated the Memorandum of Procedure and constitutional practice. He called it an assault on Punjab’s rights and “direct interference in judicial appointments.” Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said the state was not consulted. The Cabinet line is that convention requires the Centre to seek the views of the state before notifying a High Court Chief Justice, and that Delhi moved the file while Punjab’s response was still pending.

The meeting itself was an emergency video Cabinet. The resolution asked that both the appointment and the oath be put on hold. Shiromani Akali Dal, in opposition in the Assembly, backed judicial independence and opposed the demand to block the oath, widening the fight beyond a simple Centre-versus-AAP frame.

What the Centre’s side says

Sources speaking to the Times of India from the Collegium side said the Centre did ask Punjab for its opinion, that the state sat on the file for what they called an unreasonably long time, and that the government was right to proceed. That account, if accurate, turns the dispute from “no consultation” into “consultation ignored because it did not arrive.” Punjab’s letters to Rashtrapati Bhavan and to the Prime Minister do not accept that reading. They ask for the ceremony to wait.

The Governor is due to administer the oath on Monday in Chandigarh. Wikipedia’s page on Mishra already lists him as Chief Justice designate assuming office on 7 September, nominated by Surya Kant and appointed by President Murmu, succeeding Sheel Nagu. Those lines will be true or false by Monday evening depending on whether the ceremony goes ahead.

Why a High Court oath became a federal fight

The Punjab and Haryana High Court sits in Chandigarh and serves two states and a union territory. The Chief Justice of that court is not a state employee. The Memorandum of Procedure still gives state governments a consultative role when the head of their High Court is named. How much weight that role carries has been argued in other states. Punjab has now put the argument in writing, on the eve of the oath, and has also been reported as moving the Supreme Court.

If the oath happens on Monday, the Cabinet resolution becomes a political record rather than a legal brake. If it is stayed, the Collegium recommendation of 6 August will have been paused by a state Cabinet on 6 September. Either way the file is no longer a quiet notification. It is a test of whether a state government can delay a High Court Chief Justice after the Collegium and the Union government have already signed.