New Delhi: While accepting a Madhya Pradesh High Court judge’s request to transfer him out of the state because his daughter will start practising law next year, the Supreme Court Collegium has turned down the plea of a Madras HC judge who wanted to be transferred to an HC in the North-East so that she could retain the official bungalow allotted to her in Chennai.
In a meeting held on 28 March, the five-member Collegium headed by Chief Justice of India D. Y. Chandrachud resolved to transfer three judges. According to the collegium resolution uploaded on the top court’s website late Wednesday evening, Justice Atul Sreedharan from Madhya Pradesh HC was moved to Jammu and Kashmir HC; Justice V. M. Velumani from Madras to Calcutta and Sanjeev Prakash Sharma from Patna to Punjab & Haryana HC.
Justice Sreedharan, who had been appointed as a judge of the MP HC on 7 April, 2016, had put in a request to the collegium on 23 January 2023 for “a transfer out of the State of Madhya Pradesh on the ground that his elder daughter would enter practice next year and would be appearing before the District Court and the Indore Bench of the High Court”.
Taking note of his request, the collegium recorded in its resolution that the judge “has stated that he does not desire to continue in the High Court of Madhya Pradesh when his daughter enters practice” and added that accordingly, “the Collegium has resolved to accept the request of Mr Justice Atul Sreedharan and to recommend that he be transferred, in the interest of better administration of justice, to the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh”.
However, the Collegium, which also comprises Justices S. K. Kaul, K. M. Joseph, M. R. Shah and Ajay Rastogi, turned down Justice Velumani’s plea to post her to an HC in any of the North-Eastern states (instead of to Kolkata) so that she would then be able to retain her official accommodation in Chennai.
The judge wanted the collegium to reconsider its earlier recommendation of 29 September, 2022, which proposed her transfer to Calcutta HC. The judge had been appointed to the Madras HC on 20 December, 2013. Her transfer was recommended to Calcutta HC “for the better administration of justice”.
According to sources in the profession a HC judge posted in the home state can retain official accommodation allotted there if transferred to a sensitive location like Jammu and Kashmir or the Northeast.
‘No valid reason to reconsider earlier decision’
Wednesday’s resolution was the second time that Justice Velumani’s request had been turned down by the Collegium.
According to the Collegium resolution, Justice Velumani had first sought reconsideration of her transfer to Calcutta HC in a letter dated 14 October, 2022.
Her request was, however, not acceded to by the Collegium, which by a resolution dated 24 November, 2022, reiterated its recommendation for her transfer.
The Madras HC judge, however, in another letter sent on 1 March, 2023, again sought a transfer “to a HC of the North-eastern States, preferably Manipur or Tripura, on the ground that she would then be able to retain her official accommodation at Chennai”.
Rejecting her request for the second time, the Collegium noted in its resolution that it found no “valid reason to reconsider the earlier decision of the Collegium by which her transfer has been recommended to the Calcutta High Court or to accede to her fresh request. Her request for transfer to either Manipur or Tripura or any High Court in the North-eastern States is rejected”.
The high-powered appointment panel also rejected a request by Patna HC judge Justice Sanjeev Prakash Sharma to send him back to his parent HC in Rajasthan. The Collegium, however, agreed to move him to the Punjab and Haryana HC, the judge’s second choice.
Justice Sharma had cited health reasons to transfer him out of Patna.
Appointed as a Judge of the Rajasthan High Court on 16 November 2016, Justice Sharma was transferred to Patna on 1 January, 2022 “for better administration of justice”.
He sought repatriation to his parent HC on the ground of his poor health and unavailability of adequate medical facilities in Patna, according to the Collegium’s resolution.
The resolution noted that he had made an informal request for his repatriation to the Rajasthan High Court. As an alternative, Justice Sharma had asked the collegium to move him to Punjab and Haryana, “in view of the nature of the medical facilities available at Chandigarh to facilitate treatment of his condition”.
Bearing in mind the health reasons, the Collegium resolved to transfer him to Punjab and Haryana.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
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