A week after the Supreme Court warned the government that it would face unwanted consequences if it continued to delay the transfer and elevation of high court judges, law minister Kiren Rijiju informed the Lok Sabha on Friday that proposals for the transfer of 10 HC judges are in “various stages of processing,” indicating no urgency in notifying these recommendations.
The minister stated in a written response to a question that “no timeline” has been prescribed in the memorandum of procedure (MoP) for the appointment and transfer of high court judges.
The government is still using the old MoP because the new one, which was drafted on the direction of the Supreme Court’s five-judge Constitution bench in March 2016, has yet to be approved by the CJI-led collegium.
The Supreme Court had stated on February 3 that the Centre’s “indecision” regarding the elevation and transfer of judges for the HCs was troubling and that it would be forced to make “difficult and unpalatable” decisions.
The court had warned of “administrative and judicial actions” which may not be “palatable”. In the event of further delay, the bench has threatened that the judges on the transfer list will not be assigned judicial work.
“No timeline has been prescribed in the MoP for the transfer of judges from one high court to another,” the minister stated on Friday, adding that the recommendation for the 10 judges on the transfer list is still pending.
“All transfers are to be made in the public interest, i.e., to promote better justice administration throughout the country. The MoP also states that “the Chief Justice of India is expected to take into account the views of the chief justice of the high court from which the judge is to be transferred, as well as the chief justice of the high court to which the transfer is to be effected, in addition to taking into account the views of one or more Supreme Court judges who are in a position to offer views,” Rijiju said in his response, without specifying whether the delay was due to a delay in the appointment of a new judge.
