Madras HC chief justice shifted to Meghalaya HC

Madras HC chief justice shifted to Meghalaya HC

Sureshkumar.K@timesgroup.com

Chennai:11.11.2021

Bringing to an end the eventful tenure of Sanjib Banerjee as Chief Justice of the Madras high court, the Supreme Court collegium has recommended his transfer to the Meghalaya high court. Justice Banerjee was sworn in as chief justice just over 10 months ago — on January 4, 2021.

Though the transfer order is dated September 16, it was released officially only on Tuesday. The collegium also recommended transfer of Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari, a judge in the Allahabad high court, to the Madras high court.

Justice Banerjee, who completed 60 years on November 2, has two more years of service left. From the 75-judge chartered high court, Chief Justice Banerjee is moving to a high court which at present has two judges.

In his 10-month stint as chief justice, Banerjee had penned several significant rulings. In April 2021, the first bench headed by Chief Justice Banerjee lambasted the Election Commission of India for failing to maintain Covid-19 protocols during campaigns for the Tamil Nadu assembly election and had said the “ECI should be put upon murder charges for being the most irresponsible institution (sic)”. He had also warned of stalling the election if protocol was not followed. Though the ECI went to the Supreme Court to expunge the observations made by him, the apex court had refused to oblige.

In July, the judge, while sitting at the Madurai bench of the court, chastised the state government for not booking anyone in connection with the Sterlite police firing in which 13 protesters were killed. “Can we kill people and throw money at them and say that our job is done?” his bench had asked.

Justice Banerjee has two years of service left. From the 75-judge chartered high court, he is moving to a high court which at present has two judges