NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court collegium’s decisions to transfer judges from one HC to another are explained as being meant “for the better administration of justice”. But the standard reasoning does not translate into a uniform explanation, with the collegium showing unusual compassion in approving requests from some for transfer or repatriation due to difficult family situations or health issues, while maintaining aloofness from others.There are many judges in HCs who have expressed resentment at the absence of any procedure or norm for transfer of HC judges. A member of the collegium, who will go on to become CJI, has mooted framing a transparent transfer policy. He told TOI that a judge under consideration for transfer should be warned first to mend his ways and be kept under watch for some time. Only when he does not improve should he be transferred, he said.The five-member collegium on Sept 28 recommended the repatriation of Justice T Vinod Kumar from Madras HC to his parent HC in Telangana “in view of his ensuing retirement on Nov 16”. Justice Kumar was transferred from Telangana HC to Madras HC in May last year by the SC collegium headed by then CJI BR Gavai.In May last year, a complaint had reached the SC alleging that Justice Kumar, heading a division bench, had kept more than 50 judgments reserved. Sitting as a single judge, he had reserved verdicts in over 170 cases since 2020. If Justice Kumar’s imminent retirement was a ground for his repatriation, no such consideration was shown to Justice D Nagarjun, who was transferred from Telangana HC to Madras HC. Justice Nagarjun, a career judicial officer who was elevated as an HC judge in March 2022, was transferred to Madras HC in April 2023.
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As he was due to retire on Aug 14, 2024, he sent a request to the CJI on July 25, 2024, for repatriation to his parent HC in Telangana, but the collegium remained aloof to the request and allowed him to retire in Madras HC.A Punjab and Haryana HC judge represented against his transfer to another HC, citing his wife’s serious illness and disability of his child. But that evoked no compassion with the collegium, which remained firm on his transfer.Justice D V Ramana, who was only 13 years old when his railway gangman father died in an accident, rose from humble backgrounds to become a judge of Andhra Pradesh HC in Aug 2022. He was transferred to Madhya Pradesh HC in Nov 2023. On his retirement in May last year, he gave vent to his frustration. He said he was asked for options and chose Karnataka HC to enable better treatment for his wife, who had a neurological disorder. But that was not heeded. He again requested a transfer to Karnataka to help his wife get treated at Nimhans but that was neither considered nor rejected.
