KOLKATA: Calcutta High Court cannot be a “dumping ground” for judges with “questionable image or short stints”, the three HC lawyers’ bodies have said in a letter to Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna, urging him to reconsider and recall the collegium’s recommendation to transfer Delhi HC judge Dinesh Kumar Sharma to Calcutta HC.
The letter comes in the backdrop of Allahabad HC lawyers protesting the transfer of Justice Yashwant Varma, who is currently embroiled in a cash-recovery row, from Delhi HC to Allahabad HC.
The two-page letter by Calcutta HC’s Bar Association, Bar Library Club and Incorporated Law Society appends whistleblower emails against Justice Sharma sent to Supreme Court and Delhi HC on Oct 28 and Nov 4, 2024 and says “given the distressing scenario, we humbly beseech Your Lordship and the Collegium to review, reconsider and withdraw the decision” of March 27 to transfer Justice Sharma to Calcutta HC.
The letter alleges that the proposed transfer does not fall within the ambit of “regular transfers in the usual course of administration of justice” and they “suspect that this transfer is due to certain allegations that came to light touching the propriety and manner of functioning of the Learned Judge”. It adds that the details available in the complaints “are not only disconcerting, but also extremely disturbing”.
Transfer back some of our judges: HC lawyers’ bodies to CJI
The whistleblower emails seemingly refer to Justice Sharma holding on to specific civil disputes as “part heard” despite his roster being changed.
The letter states that being the oldest constitutional temple of the country, Calcutta HC “conceivably does not deserve to have a transferred judge with, either questionable image or a short stint”.
“Our high court has previously experienced short stints of various transferred judges who were sent for ‘better administration of justice’ but in effect became a dumping ground in the past,” the letter states and names five judges who were transferred from other HCs to Calcutta HC between 2016 and 2023 but retired within months of joining.
“Such short tenures prior to retirement does not and cannot have any significant impact in the discharge of judicial functions and did not “better” the administration of justice. Their performance record in the high court may please be called for from the High Court Administration, which will support our contention,” it adds.
The letter also refers to the inglorious episode of a sitting judge — Justice CS Karnan, who was transferred from Madras HC to Calcutta HC — being jailed for six months in 2016 by the SC for contempt.
Stating that “past bitter experience” with transferred judges does not instil confidence and is adverse to the interest of the institution, the letter urges the CJI to “to kindly transfer back some of our judges who are now working in various other high courts.”
According to records, eight Calcutta HC judges have recently been transferred to other HCs, three of them as chief justices of Odisha, Meghalaya and Sikkim HCs.