The Supreme Court collegium has rejected the plea of Justice V.M. Velumani, a Madras High Court judge, to cancel her transfer to Calcutta High Court and instead shifted her to the high court in either Manipur or Tripura. Justice Velumani was transferred to Calcutta High Court by the collegium on September 29, 2022, “for the better administration of justice”. The judge had initially urged the collegium to reconsider the transfer, but her plea was rejected by the collegium, which reiterated the decision on November 24.

The judge then requested through another communication dated March 17 this year that she be transferred to a high court in the Northeast, preferably Manipur or Tripura. This request too, has been turned down by the five-judge collegium of Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, K.M. Joseph, M.R. Shah and Ajay Rastogi through a resolution adopted on March 28.
The following is the resolution released by the collegium: “Ms Justice V.M. Velumani was appointed as a Judge of the Madras High Court on 20 December 2013. The Collegium by its resolution dated 29 September 2022, proposed to transfer Justice V.M. Velumani to the Calcutta High Court for the better administration of justice. Justice Velumani sought reconsideration of the recommendation by her letter dated 14 October 2022. Her request was not acceded to by the Collegium”.

Furthermore, the collegium has transferred him to the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, in the interest of better administration of justice.