#DNAExclusive: Supreme Court cancels HC judge's transfer

In a clear sign of the increasing clout of the Narendra Modi government, the Supreme Court collegium has cancelled its earlier decision to transfer Justice Valmiki Mehta of the Delhi High Court to the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana High Court.

Sources told DNA that the five-member collegium, headed by Chief Justice of India JS Khehar, met last week and decided to write to the Centre, informing it of its decision to recall the proposal made by the collegium to transfer Justice Mehta. Justice Mehta will continue in the Delhi High Court.

The move comes almost five months after the Centre, after sitting on the collegium's recommendation for almost a year, quietly sent it back for reconsideration. It had also sent back a similar recommendation for transfer of Justice MR Shah of the Gujarat High Court to the Madhya Pradesh High Court.

Before doing so, the Centre had also indicated to the SC its reluctance to process the transfers.

All the transfers had been recommended by the collegium, then headed by previous CJI Tirath Singh Thakur. The failure of the government to process the recommendations had became a major bone of contention between the higher judiciary under CJI Thakur and the Modi government, with the SC questioning the government inaction on numerous occasions.

Authoritative sources told DNA that the government had last year reached out to the then CJI Thakur, requesting him to get the collegium to rescind the transfer recommendations but he refused to play along.

Upset with the refusal of the government to implement the recommendations, during the hearing of a petition, a bench headed by then CJI Thakur, in August last year, had threatened to withdraw judicial work from Justices Mehta and Shah if the transfer of these judges was not given effect to.

Sources said that the collegium hasn't decided anything so far in the case of Justice Shah but there are indications that the collegium may send him as Chief Justice of a High Court soon.

Incidentally, even as it sent back the recommendations about the two High Court judges, another recommendation, this one for transferring Uttarakhand High Chief Justice KM Joseph as Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana High Court, continues to remain pending with the Centre without any action since the last over one year.