The Supreme Court Collegium recommended the transfer of Delhi High Court judge Justice S. Muralidhar to the Punjab and Haryana High Court only after taking his consent.
A highly placed source said a controversy over the transfer was “unnecessary” and damaged the judicial institution.
“His consent was taken before transferring him. It is a routine one,” the source said.
Besides, a transfer out of the Delhi High Court, his parent court, is considered a step closer towards his future elevation as the Chief Justice of a High Court, the source said.
A judge normally cannot be the Chief Justice in his parent court.
Pradeep Nandrajog and Gita Mittal are due to retire as Chief Justices of High Courts in 2020.
The Delhi High Court Bar Association called an emergency meeting on Wednesday to decry the transfer. The association had even asked its members to restrain from work on Thursday as a token sign of protest.
Key decisions
Justice Muralidhar, who was elevated as a judge of the Delhi High Court in May 2006, has delivered many decisions of impact.
He had revoked the transit remand of activist Gautam Navlakha in the Bhima Koregaon case. He had also convicted politician Sajjan Kumar in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case.
In 2009, he was part of the Delhi High Court Bench which decriminalised homosexuality.
He refuses to be addressed as “Your Lordship” by lawyers and gives them notice not to do in the cause list itself.
