The Secretary-General of the Supreme Court Sanjeev S. Kalgaonkar has finally reacted to the ongoing controversy on Collegium's decision to transfer Madras High Court Chief Justice Vijay K. Tahilaramani and a protest from her side following it. 

He has issued a statement stating that its recommendations for transfer were made for cogent reasons after complying with the required procedure in the interest of better administration of justice.

The statement read, "Certain reports relating to recommendations recently made by the Collegium regarding the transfer of Chief Justices/Judges of the High Courts have appeared in the media. As directed, it is stated that each of the recommendations for transfer was made for cogent reasons after complying with the required procedure in the interest of better administration of justice. Though it would not be in the interest of the institution to disclose the reasons for transfer, if found necessary, the Collegium will have no hesitation in disclosing the same. Further, each of the recommendations was made after full and complete deliberations and the same was unanimously agreed upon by the Collegium."

Justice Vijaya Tahilramani was a Judge of Bombay High Court for the past 17 years and was working as its Acting Chief Justice for a few months. From Aug 2018, she has been serving as the Chief Justice of Madras High Court, which has a sanctioned strength of 75 Judges.

The Collegium consisting of CJI Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Bobde, Justice Ramana, Justice Arun Mishra and Justice Nariman on Sep 03, recommended that Justice Tahilramani to be transferred to Meghalaya HC from Madras High Court.

Her request for reconsideration of transfer proposal got rejected with mere mention, "it is not possible to accede to her request".

“The Collegium has carefully gone through the aforesaid representation and taken into consideration all relevant factors. On reconsideration, the Collegium is of the considered view that it is not possible to accede to her request. The Collegium, accordingly, reiterates its recommendation dated 28th August, 2019 for transfer of Mrs. Justice V.K. Tahilramani to Meghalaya High Court,” the Collegium resolution of September 3 read.

 

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