Centre Announces Appointment And Transfer Of Judges In HCs

The central government on Thursday announced the appointment and transfer of judges in various High Courts.

The Union Minister for Law and Justice Kiren Rijiju announced the appointment and transfer of judges in the High Courts on Thursday.

The notification to the effect was announced by the Union Minister for Law and Justice Kiren Rijiju on Twitter.
“In exercise of the power conferred by the Constitution of India, the President of India, after consultation with the Chief Justice of India, is pleased to appoint the following as Judges in the High Courts and also transfer High Court Judges,” the notification reads.

The following names are appointed and transferred:

First, Judicial Officers Girish Kathpalia, Manoj Jain, and Roopesh Chandra Varshney will be appointed as Delhi High Court Additional Judges.

On April 12, the Supreme Court Collegium recommended the appointment of three judicial officers to the Delhi High Court.

While Kathpalia and Jain’s recommendations were approved, the government has yet to approve Dharmesh Sharma’s recommendation.

The Delhi High Court, which has a sanctioned strength of 60 judges, is currently operating with 45 judges, a vacancy position of 15.

Second, Justice Atul Sreedharan of the Madhya Pradesh High Court will be tranferred to the Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court.

Justice Sreedharan had requested the transfer because his daughter had begun practicing law in Madhya Pradesh, a request that the Supreme Court Collegium granted in March.

From 1992 to 1997, Justice Sreedharan was the junior to Senior Advocate and former Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium.

He worked independently in Delhi from 1997 to December 2000 before relocating to Indore in 2001. He then worked as a state and federal government counsel before being appointed as an additional judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court in April 2016.

On March 17, 2018, he was appointed as a permanent judge of that High Court.

Finally, Justice Sanjeev Prakash Sharma of the Patna High Court will be transferred to the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

On March 29, the Collegium recommended the transfer.

Justice Sharma, whose parent High Court is the Rajasthan High Court, had informally sought to be repatriated owing to health grounds, stating insufficient medical facilities in Patna.

If repatriation is not possible, he has requested a transfer to the Punjab & Haryana High Court, as Chandigarh has the necessary medical facilities.

The Collegium had approved his transfer to the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

“The Collegium resolves that it is not possible to repatriate Mr Justice Sanjeev Prakash Sharma to his parent High Court. Bearing in mind the health reasons which have led the Judge to seek a transfer out of the High Court where he is posted at present, the Collegium resolves that Shri Justice Sanjeev Prakash Sharma be transferred, to the High Court of Punjab and Haryana,” the collegium stated.