Justice Muralidhar on transfer day: My longest working day
In the early hours of February 26, Justice Muralidhar and Justice Anup Bhambhani held a special hearing at the former’s residence after receiving a distress call from advocate Rahul Roy.
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“February 26 was perhaps the longest working day of my life as a judge of this high court,” he said.
Clearing the air on being issued transfer orders by the government, hours after he chastised the Delhi Police for delay in taking action to contain the riots in the national capital, Justice S Muralidhar Thursday said that he “had no objection” to his transfer and had clarified his position to the collegium. “There is some confusion as to what transpired on February 26 and it needs to be clarified,” he said.
The judge was speaking at the full court reference held by the Delhi High Court in his honour to mark his transfer to the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Justice Muralidhar is expected to take oath as the second-most senior judge of the High Court on Friday.
“February 26 was perhaps the longest working day of my life as a judge of this high court,” he said.
In the early hours of February 26, Justice Muralidhar and Justice Anup Bhambhani held a special hearing at the former’s residence after receiving a distress call from advocate Rahul Roy.
“I called Justice (GS) Sistani since the Chief Justice was on leave and he said he was also on leave on February 26 and asked me to hear the matter,” he said, narrating the sequence of events that transpired. Chief Justice of the Delhi HC D N Patel was on leave since February 24. Justice Sistani, as the second-most senior judge of the High Court, was holding charge of the CJ.
After a bench of Justice Muralidhar and Justice Talwant Singh heard the case again in court on February 26, the case was heard by a bench headed by the CJ on February 27.
“I received my transfer orders just before midnight on February 26 and the case remained on the board of the CJ,” he said.
Many former judges, including former Delhi HC CJ AP Shah, and legal scholar Prof Upendra Baxi attended the function. Delhi Bar Council Chairperson K C Mittal and Delhi government’s standing counsel Rahul Mehra criticised the collegium’s policy on transfer of HC judges.
CJ Patel recalled Justice Muralidhar’s many landmark judgments and said the Delhi HC would miss “an eminent judge who can discuss any topic of law and decide any type of matter”.
Justice Muralidhar recalled the landmark 2009 verdict decriminalising homosexuality that he delivered along with then CJ A P Shah as a high point in his career.
“There was a palpable anticipation in the courtroom and when we saw people break down before and after the verdict, we knew that we had set off something irreversible,” he said. “As a judge, Gandhi’s talisman of recalling the weakest man and B R Ambedkar’s idea of constitutional morality have guided me.”
Addressing the “junior bar”, Justice Muralidhar said they were “articulate” and “unaffiliated”. He thanked his 12 staff members, interns and acknowledged that the Delhi HC functions efficiently because of its 1,200 employees. The judge also said that a “younger, vibrant and diverse” bar made the Delhi HC “the best in the country”.
“I am discussing the transfer in order to ensure judicial credibility,” Mittal said, during the full court reference.
Apart from sitting judges of the court, the HC complex was packed with hundreds of lawyers on Thursday to attend the judge’s farewell and the full court hearing.
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