March 20, 2019:

Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi has sent a second letter in two months seeking the transfer of Justice TB Radhakrishnan to the Calcutta High Court.

The move to transfer chief justice TB Radhakrishnan has the potential to become a sore point between the Supreme Court collegium & the Centre in the backdrop of the Lok Sabha elections.

Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi has sent a second letter in two months seeking the transfer of Justice TB Radhakrishnan to the Calcutta High Court, but the government is yet to take a call on it.

Media has learnt that while the issue is under deliberation, the TRS government in Hyderabad is not very enthused with the idea of a change of guard. Though it has no direct role in the matter, sources said, Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao is on a strong political wicket to assert his priorities.

With polls announced, sources said, the Centre cannot completely overlook the concerns of the state government.

However, the matter is under consideration in the light of the collegium’s reminders.

The CJI is believed to have written to law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on March 11, asking him to expedite the transfer of the judge, media house ET has learnt. In January, the ministry had asked SC collegium to reconsider its recommendation to transfer Justice Radhakrishnan, which was followed by an official communique to the CJI.

However, on February 19, the SC collegium reiterated its recommendation, stating, “nothing new has been brought to our notice.”

In the minutes signed by Justices Ranjan Gogoi, AK Sikri, SA Bobde, NV Ramana & Arun Mishra, the collegium recorded that on January 10, it had “proposed transfer of Mr Justice TB Radhakrishnan, Chief Justice, Telangana high court, in interest of better administration of justice, to the Calcutta high court,” acknowledging at the same time government had sent back the proposal.

“The collegium has already considered all aspects pointed out by the government for seeking reconsideration thereof.

Nothing new has been brought to our notice. The collegium, therefore, resolves to reiterate its recommendation dated January 10, 2019, for transfer of Mr Justice TB Radhakrishnan to the Calcutta high court.”

The Calcutta high court has been functioning without a fullfledged chief justice since January, an issue which the CJI is believed to have drawn attention to in his letter. Last November, the CJI had taken up at the highest levels the issue of the law & justice ministry splitting up proposals/non-clearance of collegium reiterations & selective withholding of names recommended for appointment as HC judges.

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