New Delhi, Sept. 1 -- The Supreme Court collegium on Monday evening recommended Chhattisgarh High Court judge Sanjay Kumar Agrawal as the full-time chief justice of the Rajasthan High Court -- a move that comes amid an escalating controversy over allegations of "corruption", "nepotism" and "favouritism" levelled against the high court's acting chief justice Sanjeev Prakash Sharma by Supreme Court judge Justice Sandeep Mehta. The recommendation came on a day Justice Sharma opted out of judicial work until September 5, as lawyers in Jaipur and Jodhpur stepped up protests demanding that he be removed as acting chief justice and a regular chief justice appointed. The collegium comprised Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and justices Vikram Nath and BV Nagarathna. Its recommendation of Justice Agrawal to head the Rajasthan High Court comes as the controversy over Justice Sharma's functioning is being considered at the institutional level. Justice Mehta, in three letters to CJI Kant Kant dated August 2, 10 and 17, had repeatedly urged the appointment of a regular Chief Justice from another high court and sought Justice Sharma's transfer out of Rajasthan. Justice Mehta has alleged that Justice Sharma misused his powers as master of the roster, selectively shifted cases from other benches to his own court and passed orders that raised "serious question marks" over the integrity of the decision-making process. He has also accused the acting Chief Justice of favouring influential and rich litigants and described the cumulative conduct as amounting to "brazen misuse of powers" that "smack of corruption". In his August 10 letter, Justice Mehta cited two cases as "living proof" of what he described as Justice Sharma's attempt to "hit longer sixes" ahead of his retirement on September 26. One concerned "priceless lands" in Udaipur, while the other involved a mining magnate whose delayed appeal, according to Justice Mehta, was improperly registered and heard by Justice Sharma's bench. Justice Mehta has also alleged that Justice Sharma backed the elevation of the daughter-in-law of a senior advocate and went out of his way to support lawyers close to him. He has further alleged vindictive treatment of judicial officers and questioned several administrative decisions concerning the Jodhpur principal seat. The Supreme Court judge has also claimed that judges of the Rajasthan High Court expressed "anguish" to him over Justice Sharma's conduct and alleged that the acting Chief Justice frequently threatened colleagues with retaliatory transfers by invoking his alleged proximity to the CJI. In his August 17 letter, Justice Mehta alleged that Justice Sharma had delayed the inauguration of the new Jodhpur District Court building despite it being operationally complete for about a year, describing the resulting loss to the institution as "unpardonable". Justice Mehta has also criticised the functioning of the high court under Justice Sharma, alleging that a full court meeting on July 31 was used to push the designation of around 96 advocates as senior advocates without a uniform criterion. According to his letter, the proposal could not ultimately be passed after other judges resisted it. He further questioned the organisation of a three-day conference in Jaipur, alleging that almost Rs.80 lakh was spent from the public exchequer while the Jodhpur principal seat remained without a functional court for two working days and 20-22 district judges were nominated to attend the event. Responding to this, a statement issued by CJI Surya Kant on August 26 said that he and other collegium members have taken note of Justice Mehta's concerns but stressed that allegations against a sitting judge have to be dealt with through the established institutional mechanism. The statement added said that the concerned judge must be given an opportunity to respond and that allegations cannot be treated as findings....