New Delhi: The Supreme Court collegium on Wednesday, October 11, reiterated its recommendation to transfer Justice M.V. Muralidharan from the Manipur high court to Calcutta, saying the decision was taken for “better administration of justice”.The collegium headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud had proposed the transfer on October 9, but on the next day, Justice Muralidharan requested to be transferred to his parent high court (Madras) or continue at the Manipur high court.“We have considered the requests made by Mr Justice Muralidharan in his above communication. The Collegium does not find merit in the requests made by him. The Collegium, therefore, resolves to reiterate its October 9, 2023 recommendation to transfer Mr Justice Muralidharan to the High Court at Calcutta,” a note issued by the collegium on Wednesday said.The collegium said as per the memorandum of procedure, it had consulted a Supreme Court judge who is conversant with the affairs of the Manipur HC and spoke to the chief justice of the Calcutta HC before recommending Justice Muralidharan’s transfer.Justice Muralidharan is the acting chief justice of the Manipur high court, a role he has been performing since Justice P.V. Sanjay Kumar was elevated to the Supreme Court in February 2023. While the collegium has recommended that Delhi high court judge Justice Siddharth Mridul be appointed as the chief justice of the Manipur HC in July, the proposal is pending before the government.An order passed by Justice Muralidharan in March this year, directing the Manipur government to “consider the case of the petitioners for inclusion of the Meetei/Meitei community in the Scheduled Tribe list, expeditiously,” is one of the triggers for the ethnic violence that has been ongoing in the state since May.The order came under criticism from the top court, with CJI Chandrachud stating, “We have to stay the order of the Manipur HC. It is completely factually wrong and we gave time to Justice Muralidharan to remedy his error and he did not…we have to take a strong view against it now.”
