New Delhi, October 12
The Law Minister, Mr H.R. Bharadwaj today said the government had not received any proposal from the Chief Justice of India (CJI) so far about the transfer of Chief Justices and judges of some High Courts, including those from the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
“I have received no proposal from the CJI for the transfer and appointment of Chief Justices and other judges of the high courts so far,” Bharadwaj told mediapersons when asked to give his comments on a news report about the Supreme Court Collegium recommending transfer of 10 judges, including the Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice B .K. Roy and two of its seniormost judges.
When asked whether he was also denying the “correctness” of the news report, Mr Bhardwaj said, “I cannot say anything about the correctness of the report but I am saying it categorically that we have not received any such proposal from the CJI.”
Explaining the procedure of transfer of Chief Justices and other judges of the High Courts, he said the Collegium of five seniormost judges of the Supreme Court, including the CJI, recommends the appointment of a judge and a
three judge Collegium deals with the transfer matters.
The entire procedure of the finalisation of the matter at the government level, including the consultation with the Chief Ministers of states concerned after receiving the recommendation of the Collegium, takes a minimum of 15 days, he said.
Even if the proposal was
received today, “no immediate decision is expected,” he said adding that “these are sensitive matters and the consultation with Chief Ministers was necessary before finalising any appointment or transfer.”
The files relating to the appointments and transfers of judges were placed before the Prime Minister for forwarding to the President only after the entire process was completed, the Law Minister said.
He also denied having written to the CJI in the recent past about a proposal for setting up of Supreme Court Benches in other parts of the country.
Mr Bhardwaj, however, said he would forward such proposals to the CJI when these would be received from the states. “But so far we have not got any proposal from states for setting up of the Supreme Court Benches,” he said.
“The government has little role to play in this matter as it was purely the prerogative of the Supreme Court to take a decision on the issue”, he explained.
