On Thursday, the Supreme Court Collegium under the leadership of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud recommended the transfer of seven High Court justices.
Justices Battu Devanand and D Ramesh have been recommended for transfers from the Andhra Pradesh High Court to the Madras and Allahabad High Courts, respectively.
It has been suggested that Justice Lalitha Kanneganti, a judge on the Telangana High Court, be transferred to the Karnataka High Court. After being appointed in May 2020, Justice Kanneganti was only transferred from her parent high court, the Andhra Pradesh, to the Telangana High Court in November of last year.
It has also been suggested that Justices D Nagarjun and Abhishek Reddy from the Telangana High Court be transferred to the Madras and Patna High Courts, respectively.
The collegium suggested that Justices V.M. Velumani and T. Raja be transferred from the Madras High Court to the Calcutta and Rajasthan High Courts, respectively. The government would also need to nominate either a new acting Chief Justice or Chief Justice following the transfer of Justice Raja, who is now the Madras High Court’s most senior judge and acting Chief Justice.
The government is still considering the Collegium’s suggestion from September 28 to replace Chief Justice S. Muralidhar of the Orissa High Court with Chief Justice of the Madras High Court.
Importantly, the Gujarat Bar’s representation objecting to the intended transfer resulted in the Collegium not recommending the transfer of Justice Nikhil Kariel, Judge of the Gujarat High Court.
It is understood that the Collegium had written to Justice Aravind Kumar, Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court, seeking his advice as they considered moving Justice Kariel from the Gujarat High Court to the Patna High Court. The Gujarat High Court Advocates Bar Association, however, went on strike and addressed the SC Collegium in their statement. Before ending their strike, the group of attorneys met with CJI Chandrachud, Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, and MR Shah on November 21.
