# CJI says allegations against judge cannot be treated as finding 2026-08-26T18:47:41+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 3 independent outlets Chief Justice of India Surya Kant on Wednesday said allegations made by Supreme Court judge Justice Sandeep Mehta against Rajasthan High Court acting Chief Justice Sanjeev Prakash Sharma cannot by themselves be treated as a finding. The CJI said the matter is being examined through the established institutional mechanism and the concerned judge must get a fair chance to respond. Justice Mehta had written three letters to the CJI alleging maladministration, corruption, nepotism and misuse of roster powers by Justice Sharma, including manipulation of case listings in favour of rich litigants. He urged the collegium to appoint a chief justice from another high court to Rajasthan immediately. The CJI said the collegium is already working on filling chief justice vacancies in remaining high courts. Times Now reports that Justice Mehta's letters also invoke a recent Supreme Court observation about judges passing orders for extraneous reasons on the eve of retirement. Any decision on Justice Sharma's continuation or transfer will be taken by the competent institutional authority after considering all material, the CJI added. ## Indian Opinion Analysis Hindustan Times and Times Now both lead with the CJI's due-process caution, while Times Now also foregrounds Justice Mehta's dramatic 'licence to hit sixes' charge. Deccan Herald offers the briefest neutral note, omitting the letters' specifics entirely. The CJI's statement itself, that allegations alone are not a finding, is the core institutional position. What remains unaddressed is whether the collegium will act before Justice Sharma's retirement next month, the deadline that drove Justice Mehta's urgency. ## Coverage Coverage: 3 sources, 2 neutral, 1 sensationalist - hindustantimes.com (neutral report) Leads with CJI statement, reports both sides factually - deccanherald.com (neutral report) Very brief wire-style summary, no added framing - timesnownews.com (sensationalist) Leads with 'licence to hit sixes' quote and drama This brief was synthesised by AI from the 3 sources linked above, so one read covers every framing they carry. Updated: this story now draws on 3 sources. Last updated 2026-08-26T19:02:28+00:00. Tags: Rajasthan High Court, Sandeep Mehta, Sanjeev Prakash Sharma, Supreme Court collegium, Surya Kant Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/cji-says-allegations-against-judge-not-a-finding/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/cji-says-allegations-against-judge-not-a-finding/#story-in-brief How this brief was made: an AI model read the reports linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. Stance labels are editorial classifications of how each outlet framed this story, assigned by the same model, not ratings of the outlets. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/