Centre notifies transfer of 15 High Court judges

New Delhi, Oct 5:  The Centre on Tuesday notified the transfer of 15 High Court judges.

The Department of Justice said in exercise of the power conferred under the Constitution of India, the President of India in consultation with Chief Justice of India, has transferred the following high court (HC) judges: Justice Jaswant Singh of Punjab & Haryana HC to Orissa HC; Justice Sabina, from Rajasthan HC to Himachal Pradesh; Justice Sanjaya Kumar Mishra, from Orissa High Court to Uttarakhand HC; Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava, Chhattisgarh HC to Rajasthan HC; Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah from Patna HC to Andhra Pradesh HC; Justice Ujjal Bhuyan from Bombay HC to Telangana HC; Justice Paresh R. Upadhyay of Gujarat HC to Madras HC; Justice M.S.S. Ramachandra Rao of Telangana HC to Punjab & Haryana HC; Justice Arindam Sinha of Calcutta HC to Orissa HC; Justice A.M. Badar from Kerala HC to Patna HC; Justice Yashwant Varma of Allahabad HC to Delhi HC; Justice Vivek Agarwal from Allahabad HC to Madhya Pradesh HC; Justice Chandra Dhari Singh from Allahabad HC to Delhi HC; Justice Anoop Chitkara, from Himachal Pradesh HC to Punjab & Haryana HC; and Justice Ravi Nath Tilhari of Allahabad HC to Andhra Pradesh HC.

On October 2, Chief Justice of India (CJI) N.V. Ramana said the top court collegium, which is headed by him, is targeting to fill vacancies in various high courts at the earliest, and it does not want to cut-down the pace of the process, rather seek Centre's support to enable access to justice and to strengthen the democracy.

In the presence of law minister Kiren Rijiju at an event organised by NALSA, Justice Ramana had said: "Since May onwards, my team so far has recommended appointment of 106 Judges and 9 new Chief Justices to various High Courts. The Government has cleared 7 names out of the 106 judges and 1 out of the 9 Chief Justices, so far". He added that law minister informed that rest of the names will be cleared within one-or two-days time.