Telangana lawyers’ body protests judge transfer

Source: indiatoday.in

Lawyers of the Telangana High Court are staying away from work until Saturday in protest against the proposal to transfer Justice PV Sanjay Kumar, the senior most judge of the court, to the Punjab and Haryana High Court as a junior judge.

The Telangana High Court Advocates Association (THCAA) is demanding that Justice Kumar should be continued in Hyderabad until he was appointed as the chief justice or acting chief justice of any appropriate high court. It decried the way Justice Kumar was proposed to be shifted to a high court, where he will be placed at No. 12 in the order of seniority.

In the Telangana High Court he is currently No. 2 to Chief Justice Raghavendra Singh Chauhan. THCAA members have pointed out that Justice Kumar’s elevation, under normal norms, as chief justice is long overdue and that at least three judges appointed after him have now been named chief justice.

Alleging that the decision of the Supreme Court collegium was “nothing but humiliation of the Telangana advocates and judges”, members of the THCAA termed the transfer proposal “an attack on the nobility and independence of the judiciary”. The lawyers charged that “politicians stationed at Delhi and others holding high powers at the helm of affairs in the apex court” were trying to put their choice of people in top positions in the judiciary.

The THCAA has resolved to send a delegation to take up the issue with the President of India, the Chief Justice of India, the prime minister, judges of the Supreme Court collegium and the Union law minister. They have also asked all presidents of district courts, subordinate courts and their association members to abstain from work.

“Two senior judges each from nine high courts have been appointed as chief justice of 18 high courts. This was not considered in the case of Telangana state.

No senior judge from Telangana High Court was appointed as chief justice for any other high court,” said THCAA president T Surya Karan Reddy.

“The institution is lacking independence. In the name of judicial administration, some influential people in the apex court, and some politicians are appointing people of their preference into the higher ranks of the judiciary. Noble judges like Justice Sanjay Kumar should not face any problems and that applies to all sincere judges,” said senior advocate L Ravichander.

“How could the collegiums take a decision to transfer to Justice Kumar without following the state roster?” asked assistant government pleader Sandella Bhooma Rao.

On August 28, the Supreme Court collegium had recommended the transfer of Justice Kumar saying it was “in the interests of better administration of justice”. It was widely expected in the legal community that Justice Kumar would be elevated as chief justice.

No one from Telangana has been appointed chief justice after Justice R Subash Reddy, Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court, was elevated as a Supreme Court judge on November 2, 2018.