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Monday, Nov 29, 2004

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National

Supreme Court Collegium recommends another mass transfer

By J. Venkatesan

NEW DELHI, NOV. 28 . The Supreme Court collegium, headed by the Chief Justice of India (CJI), R.C. Lahoti, has recommended the transfer of the Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court (PHHC), B.K. Roy, as the Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court instead of the Patna High Court (PHC) as proposed earlier.

Highly-placed sourced told The Hindu that the change in the stand of the collegium, the apex body dealing with appointments and transfer of judges, was due to the objection raised by the Centre that Justice Roy, who originally belonged to the PHC, could not be transferred as the Chief Justice of the same High Court.

According to a very high-level policy decision taken in 1983 between the Centre and the then Chief Justice of India, "a Chief Justice cannot ordinarily be appointed in the same High Court to which he belongs." When Justice Roy was recommended for transfer to the PHC last month, the Centre raised objections citing this policy.

The sources say that in the light of this objection, the Supreme Court collegium has now suggested to shift Justice Roy to the Gauhati High Court. The sources say that he has been in the midst of a controversy.

Justice D.K. Jain, senior-most judge of the Delhi High Court, has been recommended as the new Chief Justice of the PHHC.

Regarding the transfer of four Judges of the PHHC — Justices J.S. Singhvi, V.K. Bali, V.M. Jain and Nirmal Singh — the sources say that their transfers are not punitive and have nothing to do with any incident that may have happened in the PHHC as reported in some newspapers. It is explained that their transfers are in public interest and for securing better administration of justice in the High Courts.

To accommodate Justice Roy in the Gauhati high Court, Justice Rajeev Gupta, senior-most Madhya Pradesh High Court Judge, has been proposed as the Chief Justice of the Jharkhand High Court instead of the Gauhati High Court as proposed earlier.

Justice Altamas Kabir of the Calcutta High Court has been recommended for the post of the Justice of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court. He will replace Justice S.N. Jha, who has been recommended for being appointed as the Chief Justice of the Rajasthan High Court.

Justice A.K. Patnaik, senior-most Orissa High Court Judge, has been recommended to take over as the Chhattisgarh High Court Chief Justice, where the incumbent, Justice A.S.V. Moorthy, will demit office on January 8, 2005.

The sources say that Justices Amitab Lala and Baran Ghosh (both of the Calcutta High Court) and Justices R.B. Misra and S.K. Agarwal (both of the Allahabad High Court) have given representations against their transfers. But the representations have been rejected and they have to move on orders of transfers being delivered to them.

Appeal to CJI

The Vice-Chairman of the All-India Bar Association, S. Prabhakaran, has appealed to the CJI and the Union Law Minister, H. R. Bharadwaj, not to send back the first list of nine names recommended for being appointed as the judges of the Madras High Court for fresh consideration by the new Chief Justice, Markandeya Katju.

On Friday, the Minister hinted that the first list would be returned as there was no consensus. He said that the list would be sent back and it would be for the new Chief Justice to consider the issue afresh.

Mr. Prabhakaran said the first list was sent as early as January and the delay was due to the State Government not giving its opinion for a long time. Since it would result in further delay if the list is returned, he suggested that the CJI and the Minister seek the views of the new Chief Justice instead of sending the list back to the High Court.

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