Justice Chaudhari, who gave landmark rulings, shifted to Punjab & Haryana HC

Nagpur: As the local High Court Bar Association (

HCBA

) failed to back

Justice Arun Chaudhari

for his landmark verdicts that exposed Bombay High Court administration’s inefficiency and apathy towards Vidarbha, he was transferred to High Court of Punjab and Haryana. As per sources from Nagpur

bench

of Bombay High Court, the swearing-in ceremony of the senior judge is likely to be held on Friday. They added the judge had himself sought transfer outside Maharashtra after he was shifted on February 8 from important criminal bench to second appeals, considered to be of less significance so far as matters related to public interest are concerned. Registrar at Nagpur bench, Ajay Rajendekar, told TOI that they hadn’t received any written communication from the Mumbai-based administration in this regard. HCBA president Arun Patil too pleaded ignorance. A section of lawyers had started a signature campaign against Justice Chaudhari’s transfer saying the move was a raw deal meted out to Nagpur bench and the change in roster was effected with a view to shift Justice Chaudhari from the criminal bench. They even called on the HCBA to convene an emergency meeting of the general body and register a strong exception to change in the roster. However, HCBA office-bearers refused to take on their “strong” counterparts in the principal bench in Mumbai, sources claimed. Expressing disappointment over the development, some lawyers stated that transfer of one of the best judges from the state proved the hegemony of principal bench and step-motherly treatment to Nagpur bench. According to them, Justice Chaudhari is one of the seniormost judges, but time and again, he was made to face ignominy of presiding single-judge bench against a settled practice of assigning seniors a division bench. Some of the lawyers had even put up banners near Nagpur district and sessions court and GPO protesting the alleged humiliating treatment meted out to Justice Chaudhari. The lawyers claimed

HC

administration was unhappy after Justice Chaudhari censured it for assigning all cases related to financial scams under MPID Act to a single judge that led to huge pendency and subsequent harassment to scores of depositors who had lost their money in Ponzi schemes ran by Shreesurya and Wasankar groups. They added Justice Chaudhari’s harsh observations related to numerous grievances faced by common man didn’t go down well with the administration. While hearing bail plea of alleged Naxalite sympathizer Prof GN Saibaba, Justice Chaudhari had also locked horns with the then acting CJ by asking whether the latter can order transfer cases to the principal seat in Mumbai without any motion or assigning any reason or consulting with concerned hearing parties or knowing views of judges from whom the matter was proposed to be transferred.

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