Supreme Court recommends transfer of 21 HC judges, including 3 from Punjab & Haryana HC

In a major shake-up in the higher judiciary, the Supreme Court has recommended transfer of 21 judges of 10 high courts, including three judges of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, to different high courts.

The decision was taken in a meeting of the Supreme Court Collegium led by CJI BR Gavai on Monday, the Supreme Court announced on Tuesday.

Though the SC did not assign any reasons for the en masse transfers, sources said the transfers have been recommended by the Collegium “in the interest of justice”.

Three judges of the Punjab and Haryana High Court — Justice Sanjeev Prakash Sharma, Justice Sudhir Singh and Justice Anil Kshetarpal have been transferred to the Rajasthan High Court, the Patna High Court and the Delhi High Court, respectively.

Justice Sharma has been recommended to be transferred back to Rajasthan High Court while Justice Singh is being repatriated to the Patna High Court. Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra has been recommended to be transferred from the Allahabad High Court to the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

Other judges recommended to be transferred were: Justice Sujoy Paul — from the Telangana High Court to the Calcutta High Court; Justice V Kameswar Rao — back to the Delhi High Court from the Karnataka High Court; Justice Lanusungkum Jamir — from the Gauhati High Court to the Calcutta High Court; Justice Manash Ranjan Pathak – from the Gauhati High Court to the Orissa High Court; Justice Nitin Wasudeo Sambre — from the Bombay High Court to the Delhi High Court and Justice Suman Shyam — from the Gauhati High Court to the Bombay High Court.

Justice Vivek Chaudhary has been recommended to be transferred from the Allahabad High Court to the Delhi High Court while Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh will be shifted from the Kerala High Court to the Karnataka High Court.

Similarly, Justice Vivek Kumar Singh has been recommended for transfer from the Madras High Court to the Madhya Pradesh High Court; Justice Battu Devanand to the Andhra Pradesh High Court from the Madras High Court; Justice Om Prakash Shukla — from the Allahabad High Court to the Delhi High Court; Justice Shree Chandrashekhar — from the Rajasthan High Court to the Bombay High Court; Justice Arun Kumar Monga from the Rajasthan High Court to the Delhi High Court; Justice Jayant Banerji — from the Allahabad High Court to the Karnataka High Court; Justice C Sumalatha to the Telangana High Court from the Karnataka High Court; Justice Lalitha Kanneganti from the Karnataka High Court to the Telangana High Court; and Justice Annireddy Abhishek Reddy to the Telangana High Court from the Patna High Court, the SC announced.

On Monday, the Supreme Court Collegium had recommended the names of Karnataka High Court Chief Justice NV Anjaria, Gauhati High Court Chief Justice Vijay Bishnoi and Justice Atul S Chandurkar of the Bombay High Court to be appointed as judges of the top court.

The Collegium had also recommended the names of five judges for appointment as new chief justices in the high courts of Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Gauhati, Patna and Jharkhand.