Calcutta HC stays transfer of lower court judge

Kolkata, Oct 26 : The Calcutta High Court on Thursday stayed the recent transfer of a lower court judge by the state law department.

While staying the implementation of the transfer order till November 30, when the matter will be heard again, a single-judge bench of Justice Tirthankar Ghosh observed that it couldnt allow the state administration to have such control over the functioning of the judicial system.

He also observed that such instances will increase in future if immediate implementation of the transfer order is allowed.

The court was hearing a petition filed by lower court Judge Subhra Sankar Bhatta, who was recently transferred to a lower court in Asansol.

The state law department stated that since several cases are pending at the lower court in Asansol, the transfer was made keeping in mind the larger public interest.

However, Bhatta moved the high court challenging the transfer order.

On Thursday, his counsel Sabyasachi Chattopadhyay argued that the transfer order was not made in public interest, but to serve the interest of a section of lawyers.

On the other hand, the state governments counsel argued that it was a routine transfer and the legal department was well within its authority to transfer lower court judges.

After hearing both sides, Justice Ghosh stayed the implementation of the transfer order till November 30 besides directing the state government to file an affidavit in the matter by that time.

src/arm