On February 3, a Supreme Court Bench headed by Justice S.K. Kaul, who is part of the collegium, had warned the Union government of “unpalatable consequences” if the collegium’s recommendations to transfer high court judges were not given effect in the next ten days.
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The Union government on Thursday notified the transfer of three high court judges to three different high courts after sitting on the collegium’s recommendation for close to eight months.
In one case, the recommendation was ten months old.
Justice D. Ramesh has been transferred to the Allahabad High Court from the High Court of Andhra Pradesh, which is his parent high court.
Justice Lalitha Kanneganti has been moved to the Karnataka High Court from the Telangana High Court.
The Supreme Court Collegium on November 24, 2022 had recommended their transfer from their respective parent high courts.
The government has also notified the transfer of the Gujarat High Court judge Justice Vipul Manubhai Pancholi to the Patna High Court. The collegium had recommended his transfer on September 29 last year.
Yesterday, the Supreme Court Collegium recommended the transfer of three judges from their respective parent high courts to other high courts and turned down their request to transfer them to the high courts of their preference.
In the Second Judges case of 1993, a nine-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court had held that the opinion of the Chief Justice of India not only has primacy, but is also determinative in matters of transfer of high court Chief Justices and judges.
On February 3, a Supreme Court Bench headed by Justice S.K. Kaul, who is part of the collegium, had warned the Union government of “unpalatable consequences” if the collegium’s recommendations to transfer high court judges were not given effect in the next ten days. The said unpalatable consequences have not been inflicted.
In February, the Union government had informed the Parliament that as many as ten proposals for the transfer of high court judges from one high court to another were under various stages of processing with the government.
