The Hindu : National : ``No conflict between executive, judiciary on judges' transfer"

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Sunday, Jan 09, 2005

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National

``No conflict between executive, judiciary on judges' transfer"

By J. Venkatesan

NEW DELHI, JAN. 8. The Union Law Minister, H.R. Bhardwaj, has asserted that there was no conflict between the executive and the judiciary in the recommendations made by the Collegium of Judges of the Supreme Court for the transfer of High Court Judges.

Talking to reporters on Friday, he referred to the President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, returning the recommendation for the transfer of the Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice, B. K. Roy, to the Guwahati High Court and said this was not indicative of a conflict between the executive and the judiciary.

Justice Roy, who hails from Bihar, was at the centre of a controversy over the mass casual leave taken by 25 judges of the High Court in April last protesting against their differences with him. He was first recommended to be transferred to the Patna High Court. But the Government returned the recommendation to the collegium on the ground that the Memorandum of Procedure (MoP) in the appointment of judges was being violated in appointing Justice Roy as the Chief Justice to his parent High Court.

Thereafter the collegium recommended Justice Roy's transfer as the Chief Justice of the Guwahati High Court. This recommendation was returned by the President stating that Justice Roy was not consulted before his transfer to the Guwahati High Court and that it violated the MoP.

Mr. Bhardwaj said: "We have only pointed out that the shortcomings in the recommendations. After all we will abide by whatever the collegium decides. This should not be taken as a point of conflict between the executive and judiciary and there is no such conflict."

On the controversy over the resignation of Justice S. K. Agrawal protesting against his transfer from the Allahabad High Court to the Jharkhand High Court, the Law Minister said: "In this case everything was in order. Justice Agrawal's view had been taken into consideration by the collegium before recommending his transfer."

On the pendency in the largescale transfer of the Chief Justices and Judges of the High Courts recommended by the collegium, Mr. Bhardwaj said that the implementation was taking time as the Government had pointed out to the collegium the technical faults in the recommendations, including the non-consultation of the judges who had been recommended to be transferred. The recommendations had been sent back to the collegium, he added.

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