SC collegium recommends transfer of 23 High Court Judges, including AP, TS

New Delhi: The Supreme Court collegium recommended the transfer of 23 judges from different high courts, including Telangana and Andhra Pradesh high courts on Friday.

The collegium, headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai and Surya Kant, in a meeting on August 3, recommended the transfer of nine high court judges for “better administration of justice.”

According to a collegium resolution uploaded on the Supreme Court’s website, out of these nine names, four judges are from the Gujarat High Court while four are from the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The other judge is from the Allahabad High Court.

Similarly, in 14 separate resolutions of August 10, uploaded on the Supreme Court’s website, the collegium has recommended the transfer of 14 judges from different high courts.

Judge who dismissed Rahul Gandhi’s plea also on list

The transfer recommendations included Gujarat High Court Judge Justice Hemant M Prachchhak, who had dismissed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s plea on July 7, seeking a stay on his conviction in a 2019 criminal defamation case over his ‘Modi surname’ remark. The collegium has recommended his transfer from the Gujarat High Court to the Patna High Court.

While dismissing the plea, Justice Prachchhak had noted that Gandhi was already facing 10 criminal cases across India, adding that the order of the lower court was “just, proper and legal” in handing over a two-year jail term to Gandhi for his remarks. Later, on August 4, the Supreme Court stayed Gandhi’s conviction in the 2019 defamation case, paving the way for the revival of his Lok Sabha membership.

Transfer of Judge from Andhra

On August 3, the collegium proposed the transfer of Justice C Sumalatha of the Telangana High Court to the Gujarat High Court. The decision was contested by Justice Sumalatha.

In her letter dated August 5, 2023, Justice Sumalatha requested the collegium “to reconsider the proposal for her transfer and in the alternative, to consider transferring her to a high court of a neighbouring state i.e. Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.”

“The collegium is of the view that the requests of Justice Sumalatha for reconsidering the proposal for transfer cannot be accepted. However, the collegium accedes to her request in regard to the place to which she is being transferred and resolves to recommend that she be transferred to the High Court of Karnataka instead of the High Court of Gujarat, as proposed by the collegium on August 3, 2023,” the resolution said.

The collegium has also recommended the transfer of Andhra Pradesh High Court judges — Justices Duppala Venkata Ramana and C Manavendranath Roy — to the high courts of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat respectively. The collegium has also recommended the transfer of Justice G Narendar of the Karnataka High Court to the Andhra Pradesh High Court.

Transfer of Judges from Telangana

The collegium has recommended the transfer of Telangana High Court judges — Justices Munnuri Laxman, M Sudheer Kumar and G Anupama Chakravarthy — to the high courts of Rajasthan, Madras and Patna respectively.

Reshuffle of Judges in other states

The collegium has recommended the transfer of Calcutta High Court judges — Justices Bibek Chaudhuri, Lapita Banerji and Shekhar B Saraf — to the high courts of Patna, Punjab and Haryana and Allahabad respectively.

It has recommended the transfer of three judges of the Allahabad High Court — Justices Rajendra Kumar-IV, SP Kesarwani and Prakash Padia — to the high courts of Madhya Pradesh, Calcutta and Jharkhand respectively.

According to the collegium resolution, other three judges of the Gujarat High Court — Justices Alpesh Y Kogje, Kumari Gita Gopi and Samir J Dave — have been recommended for transfer to the high courts of Allahabad, Madras and Rajasthan respectively.

According to the August 3 resolution, Punjab and Haryana High Court judges — Justices Arvind Singh Sangwan, Avneesh Jhingan, Raj Mohan Singh and Arun Monga — have been recommended for transfer to the high courts of Allahabad, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan respectively.

The collegium has also recommended the transfer of Allahabad High Court judge Justice Vivek Kumar Singh to the Madras High Court.

One of the resolutions said that on August 3, the collegium had proposed the transfer of Justice Madhuresh Prasad from the Patna High Court to the Calcutta High Court.

“By a letter dated August 8, 2023, Justice Madhuresh Prasad has conveyed his consent to the proposal for his transfer to the High Court at Calcutta. He has, however, requested that while taking a final decision in the matter the collegium may take into consideration the fact that the Board examination of his younger son is due in February 2024,” the resolution said.

“We have considered the request made by Justice Madhuresh. The collegium does not find any merit in the request made by him. The collegium, therefore, resolves to reiterate its recommendation dated August 3 to transfer him to the High Court at Calcutta,” it said.

Inputs from PTI