Supreme Court Collegium Recommends Transfer Of Gujarat HC Judge Who Refused Stay In Rahul Gandhi Conviction Case

The Supreme Court collegium has suggested the transfer of Justice H M Prachchhak, a judge from the Gujarat High Court, to the Patna High Court.

This recommendation is reportedly made with the aim of improving the administration of justice.

Justice Prachchhak made headlines when he declined to grant a stay on the two-year conviction of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a criminal defamation case.

The case was filed by Gujarat Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmaker Purnesh Modi in relation to Gandhi's remarks about the 'Modi surname' during a political rally in 2019.

However, the Supreme Court Bench, headed by Justice B R Gavai, who is a member of the apex court collegium, later stayed the conviction.

The Supreme Court collegium's resolution, which was published on Thursday (10 August), proposed the transfer of Justice Prachchhak along with eight other High Court judges. This resolution was reached on 3 August.

In addition to Justice Prachchhak, the collegium also recommended the transfer of three other judges from the Gujarat High Court.

Justices A Y Kogje, K Gita Gopi, and Samir J Dave were proposed for transfer to the Allahabad, Madras, and Rajasthan High Courts, respectively.

The collegium has recommended the transfer of Justice V K Singh from Allahabad High Court to Madras. Additionally, Justices A S Sangwan, Avneesh Jhingan, R M Singh, and Arun Monga, who are currently serving at Punjab and Haryana High Court, have been recommended for transfers to Allahabad, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan, respectively.

In another proposal, the top court collegium has suggested the transfer of Justice Duppala Venkata Ramana from the High Court of Andhra Pradesh to the High Court of Madhya Pradesh. However, the collegium has denied his request for a transfer to Karnataka High Court.

Furthermore, the collegium has put forth the transfer of Justice Rajendra Kumar-IV, a judge at Allahabad High Court, to Madhya Pradesh. Despite his request to stay the transfer for six months, the collegium has declined it.

It has recommended the transfer of Justice S P Kesarwani from Allahabad High Court to Calcutta. Despite the refusal to reconsider the move, the recommendation stands.

In another proposal, the collegium has suggested the transfer of Justice C Manavendranath Roy from Andhra Pradesh High Court to Gujarat. However, his request for a transfer to Telangana has been declined.

Furthermore, Justice Prakash Padia, a judge of the Allahabad High Court, has been recommended for transfer to Jharkhand. His requests to be transferred to Madhya Pradesh, Patna, or Uttarakhand have been refused.

All of these transfers, including that of Justice Prachchhak, have been made with the aim of ensuring the better administration of justice.