Supreme Court Collegium Proposes Transfer Of 2 High Court Judges; Rejects Request Of One HC Judge Against Transfer

The Supreme Court Collegium has recommended the transfer of three High Court judges.

Justice V M Velumani of Madras High Court is proposed to be transferred to Calcutta High Court.

Justice Sanjiv Prakash Sharma, judge of the Patna High Court, is proposed to be transferred to the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

Justice Atul Sreedharan, judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, is proposed to be transferred to the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

The collegium comprising CJI DY Chandrachud, Justice SK Kaul, Justice KM Joseph, Justice MR Shah and Justice Ajay Rastogi made the proposals.

Justice VM Velumani

As regards Justice VM Velumani, the collegium had proposed her transfer to Calcutta High Court in September 2022. However, she made a request to retain her at Madras High Court. Justice Velumani also sought an alternate transfer to a North Eastern State, preferably Manipur or Tripura, on the ground that she would then be able to retain her official accommodation at Chennai.

However, the Collegium rejected her request and refused to reconsider the original decision.

Justice Sanjeev Prakash Sharma

Justice Sanjeev Prakash Sharma originally belongs to the Rajasthan High Court. In January 2022, he was transferred to the Patna High Court. He has sought repatriation to the Rajasthan High Court on the ground, inter alia, of his poor health and unavailability of adequate medical facilities at Patna. He has informally requested that if his repatriation to the Rajasthan High Court is not possible, he would seek a transfer to the High Court of Punjab and Haryana in view of the nature of the medical facilities available at Chandigarh to facilitate treatment of his condition.

The Collegium resolved that it won't be able to repatriate him to Rajasthan High Court but accepted the alternate proposal of transfer to P&H HC.

Justice Atul Sreedharan

Justice Sreedharan himself sought transfer on the ground that his elder daughter will be entering law practice next year. Therefore, the collegium resolved to propose his transfer to J&K&L HC.