SC collegium unanimously decided on Karnataka HC judge’s transfer: Sources

Source – hindustantimes.com

The Supreme Court collegium had unanimously taken the decision to transfer former Karnataka high court judge Jayant Patel to the Allahabad high court, sources said on Tuesday.

Justice Patel resigned as a judge of the Karnataka high court last week, after Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra sought his consent for transfer to the Allahabad high court. Sources in the apex court confirmed that “the decision (to transfer him) was taken after adequate deliberations, keeping in view the input on record before the Supreme Court collegium”.

Inside sources said Justice Patel was all set to take over as the chief justice of the Karnataka high court when the collegium decided to transfer him to Allahabad. His resignation was followed by outrage at the bar associations of the Gujarat and Karnataka high courts.

Justice Patel had refused to divulge the reason for his resignation before HT last week. It is believed that while he was the second senior-most judge at the Karnataka high court, he would have only been the third in terms of seniority at the Allahabad high court.

The Gujarat High Court Advocates Association is planning to file a petition in the Supreme Court to seek greater transparency in collegium proceedings.

Justice Patel had shot into the limelight when he, as a Gujarat high court judge in November 2011, ordered a CBI probe against public officials involved in the fake encounter of Ishrat Jahan and three others.