NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court collegium on Thursday recommended the transfer of Patna High Court Chief Justice A P Sahi to the Madras High Court as its head. By doing so, it overturned its earlier recommendation to transfer Meghalaya High Court Chief Justice A K Mittal to the Madras High Court in a controversial swap with the then Chief Justice V K Tahilramani. Justice Mittal will now head the Madhya Pradesh HC.
Ever since Tahilramani quit in a huff, Justice Vineet Kothari has been the acting Chief Justice at the Madras High Court.
The collegium also recommended the appointment of new chief justices of three other high courts at Meghalaya, Jharkhand and Patna. Justice Rakesh Kumar, the second senior judge of the Patna High Court has been transferred to the Andhra High Court.
In August last, Justice Kumar had made scathing observations about corruption and impropriety in the judiciary. Curiously, unlike in the past, the collegium did not specify the reasons behind the current set of recommendations. Rajasthan High Court judge Mohammad Rafiq has been recommended as the new Chief Justice of the Meghalaya High Court.
The curious case of Bhat
The collegium asked the Centre to expeditiously process the promotion of P Krishna Bhat as Karnataka HC judge. The govt stalled it twice, despite the then SC judge J Chelameswar questioning the inordinate delay