Transfer of judges put on hold by govt

A recommendation of the Supreme Court collegium to transfer three High Court judges whose names were allegedly in the list of beneficiaries in the multi-crore Provident Fund scam has reportedly not found favour with the government.

Law Minister M Veerappa Moily is learnt to have returned the file of recommendation to the Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan with a "request to reconsider" the decision, sources said.

While Justice Sushil Harkauli and Justice J C S Rawat were transferred to the Jharkhand High Court from Allahabad and Nainital High Courts respectively, Justice Tarun Agarwal of the Jharkhand High Court was transferred to Nainital (Uttarakhand) High Court last year after their names allegedly figured in the list of beneficiaries in the Ghaziabad PF scam.

The SC collegium had recently recommended that they should be sent back to the High Courts from where they were transferred in the later half of 2009. But the Law Ministry has put its foot down by returning the recommendation of the five-judge panel.

If the collegium decides to once again recommend their names for transfer, the government will have to accept it as per the Memorandum of Procedure which governs the appointment of members of the higher judiciary.

The three judges were transferred as it was decided that they should not continue in the same place after their names allegedly cropped up during investigations. CBI is yet to file its final report on the investigations before the Supreme Court which ordered a probe in September 2008.