Supreme Court Collegium recommends transfer of three judges, two on personal grounds

In a third resolution on the same day, the collegium rejected the request of a third high court judge to reconsider her proposed transfer from the Madras High Court to the Calcutta High Court so that she could retain her official accommodation in Chennai.

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THE Supreme Court Collegium on Tuesday recommended the transfer of Madhya Pradesh High Court judge Justice Atul Sreedharan to the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh. The recommendation to this effect was made at the request of Justice Sreedharan, who had sought his transfer out of the Madhya Pradesh High Court.

On January 23 this year, Justice Sreedharan sent a letter to the collegium seeking his transfer on the ground that he would not wish to continue at the Madhya Pradesh High Court since his daughter would be starting legal practice next year, and would be appearing before the high court's Indore Bench as well as district courts in Madhya Pradesh.

The collegium, comprising the Chief Justice of India Dr D.Y. Chandrachud and Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, K.M. Joseph, M.R. Shah and Ajay Rastogi, accepted the request of Justice Sreedharan, and recommended to the Union government to transfer him to the Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court.

Justice Sreedharan was appointed as a judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court on April 7, 2016.

In another resolution published on Tuesday, the collegium recommended the transfer of Justice Sanjeev Prakash Sharma from the Patna High Court to the Punjab and Haryana High Court, as per his request.

Justice Sharma was appointed as a judge at the Rajasthan High Court on November 16, 2016, before being transferred to the Patna High Court on January 1, 2022 for better administration of justice. However, he sought repatriation to the Rajasthan High Court on the ground, inter alia, of his poor health and the unavailability of adequate medical facilities in Patna.

The collegium resolution noted that Justice Sharma had informally requested that if his repatriation to the Rajasthan High Court was not possible, he would seek a transfer to the Punjab and Haryana High Court due to the nature of medical facilities available at Chandigarh to facilitate treatment of his condition.

The collegium decided to recommend Justice Sharma's transfer to the Punjab and Haryana High Court, noting that it was not possible to repatriate him to the Rajasthan High Court.

The collegium on Tuesday also rejected the request of Madras High Court judge Justice V.M. Velumani to reconsider her proposed transfer to the Calcutta High Court.

On September 29, 2022, the collegium had recommended her transfer to the Calcutta High Court. She, however, had sought reconsideration of the recommendation by a letter dated October 14, 2022. Her request was not acceded to by the collegium.

On November 24, 2022, the collegium had reiterated the recommendation for her transfer. However, she sent another letter to the collegium on March 17 this year, seeking transfer to a high court in the northeastern part of India, preferably the Manipur or Tripura high court, on the ground that she would then be able to retain her official accommodation in Chennai.

The collegium resolution noted that a previous request made by Justice Velumani to retain her at the Madras High Court had also been rejected by the collegium.

"There is 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 northeastern states is rejected," the collegium noted in its resolution regarding Justice Velumani.

Justice Velumani was appointed as a judge of the Madras High Court on December 20, 2013.