SC Collegium recalls proposal to transfer Justice Muralidhar as CJ of Madras High Court; AP, Telangana judges elevated

“In view of this delay, the resolution recommending the transfer of Dr Justice S Muralidhar is recalled, to facilitate the appointment of a permanent Chief Justice in the Madras High Court by the appointment of Justice SV Gangapurwala as its chief justice, as the high court has remained without a permanent chief justice for more than six months,” the Supreme Court Collegium said.

Justice Gangapurwala was senior-most judge of the High Court of Bombay and had served as acting chief justice in what is the second-largest high court in the country.

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Should have forced government to act: Bhushan

Besides Chief Justice Chandrachud, the Collegium meeting was attended by Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, KM Joseph, MR Shah, and Ajay Rastogi — the four seniormost judges of the top court after the chief justice.

Reacting to the decision to recall its recommendation, advocate Prashant Bhushan said that the Collegium should have forced the government to act on its 28 September recommendation and should have issued a mandamus or initiated contempt.

But, instead, the Collegium has meekly succumbed to the intransigency of the government.

Justice KM Joseph, too, had faced a similar situation when the government, in the first instance, stalled his transfer as Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh High Court. At that point of time, he was Chief Justice of Uttarakhand High Court.

Subsequently, Justice Joseph faced obstacles when he was recommended for election as judge of the top court.

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In the Centre’s bad books

Justice Muralidhar was a judge of the Delhi High Court from 29 May, 2006, till 5 March, 2020, and a judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court from 6 March, 2020, till 3 January, 2021.

He was sworn in as chief justice of the Orissa High Court on 4 January, 2021. He will demit office on 7 August, 2023.

A day after Justice Muralidhar had nudged the Delhi Police for its handling of the 2020 Delhi riots and its inaction against the ruling party leaders involved in making hate speeches, the Centre had allegedly shunted him to the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

Along with then-Chief Justice of Delhi High Court Justice AP Shah, Justice Muralidhar had authored a landmark judgment on 2 July, 2009, that had ruled that consensual intercourse between two adults was not illegal.

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Other chief justice appointments

Justice MS Ramachandra Rao of the Telangana High Court, who was functioning on transfer as a judge of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana since October 2021, was named by the Supreme Court Collegium as Chief Justice of the High Court of Himachal Pradesh.

Justice SV Bhatti, the seniormost judge from the High Court of Andhra Pradesh who was functioning on transfer as the seniormost judge of the Kerala High Court, has been elevated as chief justice of the same court/

He is now the only judge of the High Court Andhra Pradesh who is a chief justice of a high court.

Justice Augustine George Masih, the seniormost judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, has been appointed as chief justice of the Rajasthan High Court.

The Supreme Court Collegium also transferred Justice T Raja, the seniormost judge of the Madras High
Court, as a judge of the High Court of Rajasthan.

“By its resolution dated 16 November, 2022, the Collegium proposed the transfer of Justice T Raja as a judge of the High Court of Rajasthan. By his communication dated 23 November, 2022, Justice T Raja had sought reconsideration of his transfer. Upon reconsideration, on 24 November, 2022, the Collegium affirmed its earlier decision to transfer him as a judge of the High Court of Rajasthan,” the Collegium said.

“The Collegium resolves that the transfer of Justice T Raja as a judge of the High Court of Rajasthan be effectuated at the earliest. His continuation even as a judge of the Madras High Court cannot be an impediment to the appointment of Justice SV Gangapurwala as the chief justice of the Madras High Court.”