The Supreme Court Collegium has recommended the transfer of Jharkhand High Court Chief Justice MS Ramachandra Rao to the Tripura High Court. The recommendation was made during a Collegium meeting held on May 26.

The move follows the Collegium’s proposal to transfer the incumbent Chief Justice of the Tripura High Court, Aparesh Kumar Singh, to the Telangana High Court under the same resolution.

Justice Rao, who was appointed as Chief Justice of the Jharkhand High Court in September 2024 following the retirement of Justice BR Sarangi, had earlier served as Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court.

Born in 1966 in Hyderabad, Justice Rao earned his law degree from Osmania University in 1989 and pursued a Master of Laws from the University of Cambridge, UK, in 1991. He enrolled as an advocate in 1989 and was elevated as a judge of the Andhra Pradesh High Court on June 29, 2012.

Following the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, he chose Telangana as his parent High Court. He was later transferred to the Punjab and Haryana High Court in October 2021 and elevated as Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court in May 2023.

Justice Rao comes from a distinguished legal family. His father, Justice M Jagannadha Rao, served as a judge of the Supreme Court of India and chaired the Law Commission of India. His grandfather, Justice MS Ramachandra Rao, was a judge of the Andhra Pradesh High Court.

The proposed transfer is subject to approval by the central government.