President Kovind accepts Madras HC Chief Justice’s resignation

A SUPREME COURT COLLEGIUM HAD TRANSFERRED MADRAS HIGH COURT JUSTICE VK TAHILRAMANI TO THE MEGHALAYA HC LEADING TO PROTESTS BY LAWYERS IN TAMIL NADU

CHENNAI: President Ramnath Kovind has accepted the resignation of Madras high court chief justice VK Tahilramani, seeming to put at rest a controversy that flared when she quit earlier this month after the Supreme Court collegium transferred her to the Meghalaya high court .

In a notification late on Friday, the Union Law Ministry said the resignation had been accepted with effect from the afternoon of September 6.

Having tendered her resignation to the President with a copy to Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi on September 6, justice Tahilramani has abstained from work since; the cases posted before the bench headed by her were placed before other benches.

The collegium, composed of the five top judges of the apex court, passed a resolution, deemed an administrative order, to transfer her to the Meghalaya high court on August 28, following which she requested a reconsideration of the order. The request was turned down. On August 28, the collegium also cleared transfers of other high court judges.

Her transfer to a much smaller high court had raised eyebrows given that she happens to be the senior-most among high court judges.

While the sanctioned strength of the Madras high court is 75 Judges, it is just three for Meghalaya.

Lawyers across Tamil Nadu boycotted court proceedings on September 10, condemning the transfer. A section of lawyers also made representations to the CJI and the collegium to withdraw the “arbitrary and undemocratic’ transfer.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court released a statement that said the transfer recommendations it made recently “were made for cogent reasons after complying with required procedure in the interest of better administration of justice.” It added: “Further, each of the recommendations was made after full and complete deliberations and the same were unanimously accepted upon by the collegium.”