Around 100 senior lawyers today requested the Chief Justice of India to reconsider the transfer sought by two senior Madras High Court judges, saying these judges are alive to local needs of the Bar and litigants and their transfers would lead to a void and be disastrous to the institution.
Referring to an article in a leading English daily, which claimed that deep caste divisions, groupism, motivated criticism and slander are factors scaring away good judges from this Court, the lawyers in a representation to the CJI requested him to re-consider the proposal of transfer of Justices R Sudhakar and V Ramasubramanian who had voluntarily sought transfer from the Madras High Court.
They submitted that the reputation of the Madras High Court in the eyes of the general public is primarily gauged only by the quality of its judges dispensing justice.
The 'negative' publicity generated by the action of some fringe elements that have no stake in the Bar has contributed to the transfer requests, the lawyers said, adding that this did not however reflect sentiments of the substantial majority of the Bar, who are acutely aware of the judges' excellent work.
"This representation is to re-assure you and the two judges of this opinion held by the majority of the members of the Bar. The proposed transfers, if given effect, would certainly send out a wrong signal to the general public and cause further damage to the reputation of this High Court."
"As stated supra, the factors that have led to the requests for transfer were, perhaps, influenced by considerations that do not reflect the opinion of the majority of Bar. We would, therefore, request you to kindly re-consider the transfer proposals of Justice R Sudhakar and Justice V Ramasubramanian in the light of the statements made above," they said.
