NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Collegium led by CJI D Y Chandrachud, which on March 15 had proposed transfer of Chhattisgarh HC’s justice Arvind Singh Chandel to Madras high court, changed its mind on receiving representation of the HC judge and on Wednesday to recommend to the Union government to transfer him to Patna HC.
The five member collegium, also comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna, B R Gavai, Surya Kant and Aniruddha Bose, made the decision to shift him to patna HC instead of Madras HC after rejecting Justice Chandel’s representation requesting reconsideration of his transfer, and in the alternative to post him in any of the high courts of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Allahabad, Punjab and Haryana or Delhi.
After consulting SC judges familiar with Chhattisgarh HC affairs and on taking the opinion of Patna HC chief justice, the Collegium in its resolution said, “We have carefully gone through the request made by justice Arvind Singh Chandel. We are of the view that the request of justice Arvind Singh Chandel to reconsider the proposal for transfer or to transfer him to any of the above five high courts cannot be accepted.”
“Appreciating his difficulty, the Collegium partially accedes to his request and resolves to recommend that Mr Justice Arvind Singh Chandel be transferred to the High Court of Judicature at Patna, instead of the Madras High Court as proposed by the Collegium on March 15,” the resolution said.
In a case relating to Chhattisgarh Nagrik Apurti Nigam (NAN) scam, the ED on November 17, 2021, had challenged in SC the pre-arrest bail granted to top state officials involved in the scam by the same HC judge terming it as ‘tainted’ while alleging that then chief minister, members of the SIT and the state’s then top law officer had allegedly weakened the case against the two bureaucrats.
Solicitor general Tushar Mehta read out WhatsApp chats between accused persons and influential persons to show to the SC bench headed by then CJI N V Ramana about the purported influence the accused persons, in collusion with the law officer, allegedly exerted to “obtain” the anticipatory bail order in a case which involved alleged embezzlement of crores of rupees in the purchase and transportation of food grains meant for poor and marginalised sections of the society.
On October 18, 2022, the ED had said top functionaries of the state are trying to nullify the prosecution as 72 witnesses have turned hostile since grant of anticipatory bail to the two accused. It had submitted a sealed envelope WhatsApp messages of the accused purportedly showing collusion of investigating officers. The Chhattisgarh government had refuted the allegation and termed the ED case as an attempt to destabilize the Congress government in the state.
The five member collegium, also comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna, B R Gavai, Surya Kant and Aniruddha Bose, made the decision to shift him to patna HC instead of Madras HC after rejecting Justice Chandel’s representation requesting reconsideration of his transfer, and in the alternative to post him in any of the high courts of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Allahabad, Punjab and Haryana or Delhi.
After consulting SC judges familiar with Chhattisgarh HC affairs and on taking the opinion of Patna HC chief justice, the Collegium in its resolution said, “We have carefully gone through the request made by justice Arvind Singh Chandel. We are of the view that the request of justice Arvind Singh Chandel to reconsider the proposal for transfer or to transfer him to any of the above five high courts cannot be accepted.”
“Appreciating his difficulty, the Collegium partially accedes to his request and resolves to recommend that Mr Justice Arvind Singh Chandel be transferred to the High Court of Judicature at Patna, instead of the Madras High Court as proposed by the Collegium on March 15,” the resolution said.
In a case relating to Chhattisgarh Nagrik Apurti Nigam (NAN) scam, the ED on November 17, 2021, had challenged in SC the pre-arrest bail granted to top state officials involved in the scam by the same HC judge terming it as ‘tainted’ while alleging that then chief minister, members of the SIT and the state’s then top law officer had allegedly weakened the case against the two bureaucrats.
Solicitor general Tushar Mehta read out WhatsApp chats between accused persons and influential persons to show to the SC bench headed by then CJI N V Ramana about the purported influence the accused persons, in collusion with the law officer, allegedly exerted to “obtain” the anticipatory bail order in a case which involved alleged embezzlement of crores of rupees in the purchase and transportation of food grains meant for poor and marginalised sections of the society.
On October 18, 2022, the ED had said top functionaries of the state are trying to nullify the prosecution as 72 witnesses have turned hostile since grant of anticipatory bail to the two accused. It had submitted a sealed envelope WhatsApp messages of the accused purportedly showing collusion of investigating officers. The Chhattisgarh government had refuted the allegation and termed the ED case as an attempt to destabilize the Congress government in the state.
