The Hindu : National : Transfer of Chief Justices not punitive: Bhardwaj

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Wednesday, Oct 20, 2004

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Transfer of Chief Justices not punitive: Bhardwaj

By Our Legal Correspondent

NEW DELHI, OCT. 19 . The Union Law Minister, H.R. Bhardwaj, today acknowledged the receipt of the recommendations from the Chief Justice of India (CJI), R.C. Lahoti, heading the collegium of Supreme Court Judges, on the transfer of four Chief Justices (CJs) of High Courts. The transfers were not "punitive" but only in "public interest" and an "administrative necessity."

Talking to reporters here today, he said the Law Ministry had received two sets of proposals from the CJI — one on October 15 and the other yesterday — on the transfer of CJs of four High Courts and the elevation of Judges as CJs for four other HCs.

He said: "I have already started processing them and a few of the recommendations on transfer of CJs of High Courts would be notified within a couple of days."

Asked about the reported allegations against certain CJs and the transfers recommended by the collegium, he said: "We are dealing with no allegations at all. These transfers are only in public interest."

He said that in the case of Judges being elevated as Chief Justices, the views of the Chief Ministers and the Governors would be obtained and thereafter the names would be sent to the Prime Minister for being forwarded to the President. The entire recommendations would be complied with in a matter of four to six weeks."

`Awaiting action'

He said the Government was awaiting action on the part of the CJI to resolve the controversy created by the en masse leave of the Judges of the Punjab and Haryana High Court over certain differences with their Chief Justice, B.K. Roy. He said, "the transfer of Justice Roy was in no way linked to the controversy."

The collegium had recommended to the Government the transfer of the Chief Justice of the Madras High Court, B. Subhashan Reddy, to the Kerala High Court; the Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court, N.K. Sodhi, to the Karnataka High Court; the Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, B.K. Roy, to the Patna High Court and the Chief Justice of the Uttaranchal High Court, V.S. Sirpurkar, to the Calcutta High Court.

The collegium has also recommended the elevation of four senior judges for appointment as CJs to the High Courts of Punjab and Haryana, Madras, Uttaranchal and Allahabad.

Judicial Commission

Mr. Bhardwaj made it clear that the Government was not in favour of setting up a National Judicial Commission for appointment, transfer and accountability of the Judges. He said there was already the "in-house procedure" for disciplining erring Judges.

"We should give an opportunity to the judiciary for self-correction," he added.

He said he was not in favour of any change in the impeachment procedure for the Judges provided under the Constitution. "If the erring Judges were not disciplined by the Judiciary through the in-house procedure, then it will become a subject of public debate resulting in an outcry against indiscipline," he said.

Review panels

Mr. Bhardwaj said the Union Home Ministry would soon appoint Justice Usha Mehra, a retired Judge of the Delhi High Court as Chairperson of the POTA Central Review Committee to succeed Justice A.B. Saharya, who had resigned. He said the Government also proposed to set up two other POTA Central review committees, headed by retired Judges, to ensure that all the cases filed under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, which had been repealed, were reviewed within a year.

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