Don’t Deserve Judge With Questionable Image: Calcutta HC Bar Association Question Transfer of Delhi HC judge to Kolkata

Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court Bar Associations have jointly questioned the transfer of Delhi High Court judge Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma from Delhi to Calcutta HC saying that they don’t deserve to have a transferred judge with either questionable image or a short stint.

The Calcutta High Court Bar Association requested the Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna to reconsider and withdraw Collegium recommendation of transferring Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma from Delhi to Calcutta HC saying that they are very much aware of the serious complaints against Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma since October 2024 during his tenure at Delhi High Court.

Calcutta High Court Bar associations in their letter mentioned that the details and the particulars available in such complaints are not only disconcerting but also extremely disturbing.

Reasons to believe transfer due to certain allegations, says Calcutta HC Bar Association  

In its letter, the Allahabad HC mentioned that they have reasons to believe that this transfer is due to certain allegations that came to light touching the propriety and manner of functioning of the said judge.

Considering the facts and circumstances we feel that, the principle “Justice should not only be done but seen to have been done” be considered by reviewing the decision of the collegium, Calcutta Bar Association wrote in its letter to the CJI.

They said that being the oldest constitutional temple of the country, the High Court at Calcutta, conceivably does not deserve to have a transferred Judge with, either questionable image or a short stint.

“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. There performance record in the High Court may please be called for from the High Court administration, which will support our contention,” the Bar Association said.

The Bar Association further added that their bitter past experiences of having transferred judges and their performance don’t install confidence and rather acts adverse to the interest of the institution.

The Bar Association requested the CJI that under the given distressing scenario, they humbly beseech him and the Collegium to review, reconsider and withdraw the transfer of Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma.

Allahabad HC Bar Association goes on strike after Collegium recommends Justice Yashwant Varma's transfer

Calcutta developed has come just days after Allahabad High Court Bar Association urged the SC Collegium not to transfer Justice Yashwant Varma, accused in Delhi cash scandal case, to Allahabad or any other High Court in the country.

Justice Yashwant Varma is being investigated after piles of unaccounted cash was allegedly recovered from his residence in Delhi after a fire incident took place on March 14, during the Holi weekend.

The CJI initiated a 3-member team to investigate the allegations against Justice Varma and also released Delhi High Court Chief Justice Devendra Updhyaya's report on the alleged cash scandal case, after various eagle legals, country's top judicial members, objected to SC Collegium's move to transfer Justice Varma to Allahabad.