Last month, the Supreme Court had warned the Union government of “unpalatable consequences” if the collegium’s recommendations to transfer high court judges were not given effect within the next ten days.
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FOUR months after the Supreme Court Collegium recommended the transfer of Justice Battu Devanand of the Andhra Pradesh High Court and Justice Dr D. Nagarjun of the Telangana High Court to the Madras High Court, the Union government on Thursday notified their transfers, as had been suggested by the collegium on November 24 last year.
The government has not, however, notified the transfer of Justice V.M. Velumani from the Madras High Court to the Calcutta High Court, of Justice D. Ramesh from the Andhra Pradesh High Court to the Allahabad High Court, of Justice Lalitha Kanneganti from the Telangana High Court to the Karnataka High Court, of Justice T. Raja from the Madras High Court to the Rajasthan High Court, and of Justice A. Abhishek Reddy from the Telangana High Court to the Patna High Court. The collegium had made these recommendations on November 24 last year as well.
Last month, the Supreme Court 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. A bench comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Abhay S. Oka had said that the transfer of judges was a serious issue; more serious than anything else.
The bench had warned that it would be forced to take action both on the administrative and the judicial sides if collegium recommendations are not given effect. The court is yet to take such action, though.
The bench was hearing a contempt petition against the Union government for not giving effect to the recommendations of the Supreme Court collegium to appoint and transfer judges.
In the Second Judges case of 1993, a nine-judge Constitution bench 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.
