The Supreme Court Collegium has refused to accede to Madras High Court Chief Justice V.K. Tahilramani’s request to reconsider its recommendation to transfer her as Chief Justice of the Meghalaya High Court.
It also refused similar requests made by two other High Court judges, Justices Vivek Agarwal and Amit Rawal. The Collegium explained plainly, in separate orders on September 3, that the three transfers were recommended in the interests of “better administration of justice.”
The Collegium had recommended Justice Tahilramani’s transfer to Meghalaya on August 28.
The judge was asked to respond in accordance with the terms of the Memorandum of Procedure. Justice Tahilramani had sent a representation to the Collegium on September 2, requesting a reconsideration.
“The Collegium has carefully gone through the representation and taken into consideration all relevant factors. On reconsideration, the Collegium is of the considered view that it is not possible to accede to her request. The Collegium, accordingly, reiterates its recommendation dated 28th August, 2019 for transfer of Mrs. Justice V.K. Tahilramani to Meghalaya High Court,” the resolution of September 3 said.
In May 2017, while in Bombay High Court, Justice Tahilramani had upheld the convictions in the Bilkis Bano gang-rape case .
Relatively new HC
If the government accepts the recommendation, Justice Tahilramani is moving from being the Chief Justice of one of the three Chartered High Courts (Calcutta and Bombay being the other two) to a relatively new one. The Calcutta, Bombay and Madras High Courts were established on the basis of letters patent issued by the Queen of England as per the Indian High Court Act of 1861.
The Collegium has recommended that Justice A.K. Mittal, who is currently the Meghalaya Chief Justice, take over from Justice Tahilramani at the Madras High Court.
Similarly, Justice Agarwal, an incumbent in the Madhya Pradesh High Court, had wanted to stay back in the State. The Collegium had recommended his transfer to the Allahabad High Court on August 28. A request made by Justice Rawal, a judge with the Punjab and Haryana High Court, to the Collegium to rethink its recommendation to transfer him to Kerala High Court also did not find favour.
Objection to transfer
Questions have been raised about the recent Collegium recommendation to transfer Justice P.V. Sanjay Kumar, the senior most puisne judge of the Telangana High Court, as a judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The Collegium proposal was objected to by the Telangana Bar, which has resolved to protest the move.
