NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court collegium headed by CJI S A Bobde has recommended the transfer of Justice S Muralidhar from Delhi high court, where he was appointed judge on May 29, 2006, to Punjab and Haryana high court, leading to protests from the Delhi high court bar association that called for a strike on Thursday.
Justice Muralidhar, who was part of the high court bench that first ordered decriminalisation of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code to give freedom of sexual expression to the LGBT community, is number three in seniority in his parent high court. If the government accepts the recommendation, he will be number two in seniority in Punjab and Haryana high court after Chief Justice Ravi Shanker Jha.
He had run into criticism from certain quarters for quashing the transit remand and directing release of rights activist Gautam Navlakha from house arrest on October 1, 2018, in the Koregaon Bhima case even when the matter was pending in the Supreme Court.
Last year, a bench headed by Justice Muralidhar had convicted 16 former policemen of Uttar Pradesh in the Hashimpura massacre case and also sent Congress’s Sajjan Kumar to jail in one of the anti-Sikh riots cases.
Expressing “shock” at the collegium recommending Justice Muralidhar’s transfer, the high court bar association hoped the decision would be recalled, saying such transfers were “detrimental” to the institution.
“Unequivocally and in the strongest possible terms, the Delhi high court bar association condemns the said transfers... Such transfers are not only detrimental to our noble institution but also tend to erode and dislodge the faith of the common litigant in the justice dispensation system. Such transfers also impede free and fair delivery of justice by the bench,” a resolution passed by the association said.
The association requested its members to abstain from work on Thursday “as a token of protest as the said transfer is a rarest of rare case, the majesty of our revered institution is at stake”.
However, sources said the judge’s consent was taken before issuing the transfer proposal.
The Supreme Court collegium, through cryptic notifications, also recommended the transfer of Justice Subramonium Prasad of Madras high court to Delhi high court. Justice Prasad, before his appointment as Madras high court judge on June 4, 2018, was practising as an advocate in the apex court.
It recommended transfer of Bombay high court’s Justice Ranjit V More to Meghalaya high court and Karnataka high court’s Justice R V Malimath to Uttarakhand. The collegium also recommended appointment of four judicial officers — I J Vora, Gita Gopi, Ashokkumar C Joshi and R M Sareen — as judges of Gujarat high court.
Justice Muralidhar, who was part of the high court bench that first ordered decriminalisation of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code to give freedom of sexual expression to the LGBT community, is number three in seniority in his parent high court. If the government accepts the recommendation, he will be number two in seniority in Punjab and Haryana high court after Chief Justice Ravi Shanker Jha.
He had run into criticism from certain quarters for quashing the transit remand and directing release of rights activist Gautam Navlakha from house arrest on October 1, 2018, in the Koregaon Bhima case even when the matter was pending in the Supreme Court.
Last year, a bench headed by Justice Muralidhar had convicted 16 former policemen of Uttar Pradesh in the Hashimpura massacre case and also sent Congress’s Sajjan Kumar to jail in one of the anti-Sikh riots cases.
Expressing “shock” at the collegium recommending Justice Muralidhar’s transfer, the high court bar association hoped the decision would be recalled, saying such transfers were “detrimental” to the institution.
“Unequivocally and in the strongest possible terms, the Delhi high court bar association condemns the said transfers... Such transfers are not only detrimental to our noble institution but also tend to erode and dislodge the faith of the common litigant in the justice dispensation system. Such transfers also impede free and fair delivery of justice by the bench,” a resolution passed by the association said.
The association requested its members to abstain from work on Thursday “as a token of protest as the said transfer is a rarest of rare case, the majesty of our revered institution is at stake”.
However, sources said the judge’s consent was taken before issuing the transfer proposal.
The Supreme Court collegium, through cryptic notifications, also recommended the transfer of Justice Subramonium Prasad of Madras high court to Delhi high court. Justice Prasad, before his appointment as Madras high court judge on June 4, 2018, was practising as an advocate in the apex court.
It recommended transfer of Bombay high court’s Justice Ranjit V More to Meghalaya high court and Karnataka high court’s Justice R V Malimath to Uttarakhand. The collegium also recommended appointment of four judicial officers — I J Vora, Gita Gopi, Ashokkumar C Joshi and R M Sareen — as judges of Gujarat high court.
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