New Delhi: The Supreme Court Collegium has recommended transfer of as many as nine Judges of different High Courts for what it called “better administration of justice”.
The SC Collegium took the decision to transfer the nine High Court judges in its meeting held on August 03, 2023. The order however was put on the apex court’s website last night.
Among the nine judges who have been transferred four each are from Gujarat and Punjab and Haryana High Courts whereas one is from Allahabad High Court.
All the nine judges have been recently in news, in one way or the other, because of the high-profile cases they heard or some controversies.
One of the nine judges who have been transferred is Justice Hemant M Prachchhak. Justice Prachchhak has been transferred from Gujarat to Patna High Court.
As a lawyer Justice Prachchhak had defended BJP leader and one of the prominent faces of the 2002 Gujarat riots, Maya Kodnani, and went on to become Assistant Pleader of the Gujarat government under then Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
He was later appointed as the Union government's standing counsel for the High Court of Gujarat in 2015, a year after Modi became Prime Minister of India.
Justice Prachchhak was in news two months ago when he dismissed Rahul Gandhi’s plea seeking a stay on his conviction in “Modi surname defamation case”.
Justice Samir J Dave who has been transferred from Gujarat to Rajasthan had recently courted a controversy for his "Manusmriti" remark while hearing a minor rape survivor's plea for permission to terminate her pregnancy.
In his observations made orally, Justice Dave had asked the minor to read the Hindu religious book to know girls become mature before boys and that they used to give birth to their first child before turning 17. Justice Dave also invoked Bhagavad Gita and said judges should be like "Stithaprajna".
Justice Dave was also in news when he dropped out of hearing noted activist Teesta Setalvad’s plea that sought quashing of FIR against her.
Justice Gita Gopi is another judge from Gujarat High Court who has been transferred and sent to Madras. Judge Gita Gopi had also recused herself from hearing Rahul Gandhi’s plea challenging the Surat Sessions Court’s order declining to stay his conviction in the “Why all Modis are thieves” case.
Born in 1966 in Navsari, Gujarat, Justice Gita Gopi, a Commerce graduate who wanted to be a teacher, but became a lawyer and then a judge. She was appointed as a Judge in the Gujarat High Court on March 4, 2020.
The fourth judge of Gujarat High Court who has been transferred is Justice Alpesh Y Kogje.
Justice Arvind Singh Sangwan who has been transferred from Punjab and Haryana High Court to Allahabad was in news when he in 2021 recused himself from hearing the plea seeking transfer of the murder trial against former Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh.
Recently, in an out-of-the-ordinary order delivered in February 2023, Justice Arvind Singh Sangwan held that the Punjab and Haryana High Court was itself on administrative side not following a Division Bench judgment in a case related to a judicial officer’s promotion.
Other judges who have been recommended for transfer are Justice Vivek Kumar Singh of Allahabad High Court, and Justice Arun Monga, Justice Avneesh Jhingan and Raj Mohan Singh – all from Punjab and Haryana High Court.
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