The Bar Library Club, the Bar Association and the Incorporated Law Society of the Calcutta High Court Tuesday observed a token protest in court regarding the transfer of Judges from Delhi High Court to the Calcutta High Court.
Recently, the three High Court lawyers’ bodies had written a letter to Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna, urging him to reconsider and recall the collegium’s recommendation to transfer Delhi High Court judge Dinesh Kumar Sharma to the Calcutta High Court.
The decision taken by the Bar wings reads: “The members unanimously agreed that the present situation falls under the rarest of rare category as the High Court at Calcutta is being compelled to accept a Judge facing serious allegations of impropriety. It was also agreed that in the event the transfer is given effect to, the same would be an imminent threat to the honour, integrity and dignity of our High Court and independence of our legal profession.”
The Bar’s allegation is that time and again, the Calcutta High Court has been treated as a “dumping ground” for tainted Judges.
Speaking to mediapersons, the Secretary of the Calcutta HC’s Bar Association Sankar Prasad Dalapati said, “We have seen that time and again, tainted judges of various other courts have been sent to the Calcutta High Court, like Justice CS Kanan. These tainted judges, like garbage, are being dumped in the Calcutta High Court, so we are protesting. Today is a token protest of not participating in the judicial process. Till now there is no notification, in future if there is any notification (regarding the transfer of the Delhi Judge) then we will decide… This is not a routine transfer. He is being transferred for this allegation.”
The Secretary of the Bar Library Sabyasachi Choudhury told mediapersons, “The problem is that the Calcutta High Court is being used as a dumping ground. The information that we have regarding the Judge who has been recommended for transfer is available on the Internet. Our friends and colleagues in Delhi have informed us that the transfer is not routine so we have decided to put our foot down. This is a token protest. If he is transferred, then we will not attend his swearing-in ceremony, but all will be decided as things proceed.”
“We have informed (authorities) about our decision and our reservations, how we are being victimised,” said Poritish Sinha, secretary of Incorporated Law Society.
Justice Sharma, who joined the Delhi Judicial Service in 1992 and was promoted to the Delhi Higher Judicial Service in 2003, took oath as a judge of the Delhi HC in February 2022. The recommendation came after a large amount of cash was reportedly discovered at justice Yashwant Varma’s residence on March 14. Firefighters responding to a minor fire allegedly found bundles of cash in a storeroom, some of which were charred. Justice Varma and his wife were in Bhopal at the time of the incident.