2nd seniormost Bombay HC judge transferred

MUMBAI: In a sudden transfer order, the Supreme Court on Wednesday notified the transfer of Justice Ranjit More of the Bombay High Court to Meghalaya High Court. The transfer comes as a shock as Justice More is the second seniormost judge in the HC after the Chief Justice and has been transferred to Meghalaya HC, which has the strength of two judges after the CJ. In its statement uploaded on the SC website, the collegium headed by Chief Justice of India Sharad Arvind Bobde notified the transfer of Justice More to Meghalaya HC. The notification indicated the transfer of Justices S Murlidhar and Ravi Malimath of the Delhi and Karnataka HCs respectively. While Justice Murlidhar has been proposed to be sent to Punjab and Haryana HC, Justice Malimath has been transferred to Uttarakhand HC. However, the notification from the law ministry, confirming the transfers are yet to be issued. Justice More (60), who hails from Satara, has served as an HC judge in Bombay for 14 years. He has passed important judgments right from ordering the demolition of the scam-tainted Adarsh building to granting bails to Pragya Singh Thakur and Col SP Purohit. Other important judgments pronounced by Justice More include the one passed last year, wherein he upheld the constitutional validity of the reservation to the Maratha community in public service and education. The said order has not yet been stayed by the SC. However, the one passed recently, was the release of Rakesh and Sarang Wadhawans, a prime accused in the multi-crore PMC bank scam. He had ordered shifting them from Arthur Road prison to their house to enable them to help in selling off their assets. The order was stayed by the SC, recently. —Staff Reporter