ON JULY 14, the Union Government notified the transfer of five judges to the Delhi High Court, with one judge repatriated to the same court.
Shuffles in the Delhi HC
Justice V. Kameswar Rao, currently the senior-most judge in the Karnataka High Court, was repatriated to the Delhi High Court yesterday evening.
Justice Rao hails from the Delhi High Court and was transferred to the Karnataka High Court on June 1, 2024. He was appointed as an additional judge of the Delhi High Court on April 17, 2013.
Justice Vibhu Bakhru, the senior-most judge at the Delhi High Court, has been appointed as the Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court.
The government has also approved the transfers of Justice Nitin Wasudeo Sambre from the Bombay High Court, Justices Vivek Chaudhary and Om Prakash Shukla from the Allahabad High Court, Justice Anil Kshetarpal from the Punjab and Haryana High Court, and Justice Arun Kumar Monga from the Rajasthan High Court to the Delhi High Court.
Justice Pratibha Singh, currently third in seniority and a member of the High Court Collegium, will drop to fifth.
How Delhi HC’s seniority structure changes
These transfers will alter the seniority hierarchy in the Delhi High Court. Justice Pratibha Singh, currently third in seniority and a member of the High Court Collegium, will drop to fifth.
Justices Sambre and Chaudhary are senior to Justice Singh. Justice Sambre was appointed as a judge of the Bombay High Court on January 6, 2014, and Justice Chaudhary was appointed as a judge of the Allahabad High Court on February 20, 2017. Justice Pratibha Singh was appointed as a judge on May 15, 2017.
These transfers and repatriation increase the strength of the Delhi High Court from 35 judges to 40 judges, with one judge appointed as Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court.
The Delhi High Court has a sanctioned strength of 60 judges. The Collegium made these recommendations in late May this year.