Madras High Court CJ shifted

By Harish Khare

NEW DELHI, AUG. 21. The Chief Justice of the Madras High Court, Mr. Nagendra Kumar Jain, has been transferred to the Karnataka High Court. A press communique of the Ministry of Law, Justice and Company Affairs says, ``in exercise of the powers conferred by Clause (1) of Article of the Constitution, the President, after consultation with the Chief Justice of India, is pleased to transfer'' Mr. Justice Jain as the Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court.

However, the brief announcement does not mention any date as to when Mr. Justice Jain would take over in Bangalore; according to informed sources, the expectation is that Mr. Justice Jain should be able to relinquish his charge in Chennai within the next few days.

As far as a replacement is concerned, a decision is believed to have been taken to ask the senior-most judge of the Andhra Pradesh High Court to take over as the Chief Justice of the Madras High Court. Responsible sources believe that the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Ms. Jayalalithaa, would convey her ``consent'' to the proposal in a day or two, and as soon as the Union Law Ministry hears from the State Government, the process for putting in a new Chief Justice in the Madras High Court would begin. It is presumed that all the informal consultation among the relevant judicial dignitaries has already taken place.

It is pointed out that even after hearing from Chennai, the process of change of guard could take anywhere between a week to three weeks. The ``file'' has to move from the Department of Justice, through the Law Ministry to the Prime Minister's Office to the President. This means that in the interregnum the Madras High Court may have to do with an ``acting'' arrangement.

Mr. Justice Jain's departure from the Madras High Court is believed to have come about in the context of the Chief Minister's many legal entanglements, and the Centre's anxiety that she should not use her office to by-pass the rigours of due process of law. The judicial leadership at the highest level is said to be keeping a watch on the developments in Chennai and on how the various courts give an account of themselves.

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