Madras High Court missing a permanent CJ since September last year, government sitting on collegium recommendation for the post

In February, the Supreme Court had, on the judicial side, warned the government of unpalatable consequences if the Supreme Court Collegium's recommendations on high court transfers are not given effect.

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EVEN six months after the Supreme Court Collegium recommended the transfer of Orissa High Court Chief Justice Dr S. Muralidhar to helm the Madras High Court, the Union government continues to sit on the recommendation, telling the Parliament last week that the recommendation is under consideration.

Union Minister for Law and Justice Kiren Rijiju was responding to the following set of questions asked by two Members of Parliament from the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, representing Tamil Nadu in the Lok Sabha, A.K.P. Chinraj and T.R. Baalu:

• Whether the post of Chief Justice of Madras High Court is lying vacant for more than five months and if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor;
• Whether the appointment of the Chief Justice of Madras High Court has been recommended by the Supreme Court Collegium and if so, the details thereof;
• Whether the said proposal has been returned to the Supreme Court Collegium for reconsideration and if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor;
• The details of the Supreme Court collegium recommendations on transfer of Madras High Court judges pending with the government; and
• Whether any concern was raised by the advocates forum of the high court on transfer of judges from the Madras High Court to the Meghalaya High Court and if so, the details thereof and the response of the government thereto?

Responding to the questions, the minister said, "There is a proposal of transfer of Chief Justice of Orissa High Court as Chief Justice of the Madras High Court which is under consideration of the government."

The senior-most puisne judge of the Madras High Court, Justice T. Raja has been functioning as the acting Chief Justice of the Madras High Court since the retirement of the last Chief Justice of the high court, Justice M.N. Bhandari on September 12, 2022. Justice Raja is slated to retire on May 24 this year, while Justice Dr Muralidhar will retire on August 7 this year.

On September 28 last year, the collegium recommended the transfer of Justice Dr Muralidhar to the Madras High Court as Chief Justice. Through a resolution on November 24 last year, the collegium also recommended the transfer of Justice Raja from the Madras High Court to the Rajasthan High Court. Through the same resolution, it also recommended the transfer of another Madras High Court judge, Justice V.M. Velumani to the Calcutta High Court.

The Union government is yet to give effect to these recommendations as well despite the Supreme Court on the judicial side warning the government in February of unpalatable consequences if the recommendations on high court transfers are not given effect.

Recently, the collegium rejected the request of Justice Velumani to reconsider her proposed transfer to the Calcutta High Court. She 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.

A collegium resolution dated March 28 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.

When Justice Dr Muralidhar was serving at the Delhi High Court, a bench presided over by him on February 26, 2020 had pulled up the Delhi Police for its inaction in lodging first information reports (FIRs) against Bharatiya Janata Party politicians Kapil Mishra, Anurag Thakur (currently the Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting) and Parvesh Sahib Singh for their alleged inflammatory speeches leading up to the Delhi riots of February 2020. Justice Dr Muralidhar had ordered that the Delhi Police Commissioner view all video clips of the three politicians making alleged hate speeches, not limited to the videos played before the court but any other videos that might be provided to them which they perhaps already are in possession of, and take a conscious decision regarding registration of FIRs that would be communicated to the court.

On the intervening night of February 26, 2022, Justice Dr Muralidhar was transferred to the Punjab and Haryana High Court by the Union government.

The Delhi High Court Bar Association (DHCBA) had expressed its shock and condemned the transfer of Justice Dr Muralidhar. The DHCBA had also abstained from work on February 20 as a token of protest.