SC collegium transfers high court judges

The Supreme Court collegium has transferred four judges to the Manipur, Allahabad, Calcutta and Kerala high courts while refusing to accede to a request by one of them to reconsider the recommendation to transfer him.

The collegium, headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, proposed the transfer of justices M V Muralidaran, Munishwar Nath Bhandari, Justice T B Radhakrishnan and S Venkatanarayana Bhatti to the Manipur, Allahabad, Calcutta and Kerala high courts respectively in the interest of "better administration of justice".

"Upon being requested to send his response in terms of the Memorandum of Procedure, Justice M V Muralidaran vide representation dated January 17, 2019 (copy placed below), for the reasons stated therein, has requested to allow him to function in the Madras High Court at least for the time being, and in the alternative, to transfer him to Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala or Orissa High Court, instead of Manipur High Court," the collegium said.

It said it has carefully gone through the representation and taken into consideration all relevant factors, including his request for transfer to any of the four high courts.

"On reconsideration, the collegium is of the considered view that it is not possible to accede to his request. The collegium, accordingly, reiterates its recommendation dated January 15, 2019 for transfer of Mr Justice M V Muralidaran to the Manipur High Court," the collegium said.

The five-member Supreme Court Collegium, comprises CJI Gogoi and justices A K Sikri, S A Bobde, N V Ramana and Arun Mishra.

The collegium had recommended transfer of Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari from Rajasthan High Court to Allahabad High Court.

It had recommended transfer of Justice Justice T B Radhakrishnan, Chief Justice, Telangana High Court to Calcutta High Court.

Justice S Venkatanarayana Bhatti was posted as a Judge at Andhra Pradesh High Court and now has been transferred to Kerala High Court by the collegium.

The information was uploaded on the apex court website on Wednesday.