The Gauhati High Court recently dismissed a petition challenging the Chief Justice’s administrative decision to transfer a batch of petitions in a land acquisition case to its Principal Seat at Guwahati from the Itanagar Bench.
The Court also rejected a request for the Chief Justice’s recusal from the matter on the grounds that the request was flawed and fallacious. It explained that if such a request is accepted, neither the Chief Justice nor any other judge could hear any petition involving a service dispute of any judicial officer, particularly when High Court would be a party.
The Court also rejected an argument that the transfer of the petitions from Itanagar amounted to lowering the dignity of the Itanagar Permenant Bench. It reasoned that on many occasions, the Chief Justice is required to transfer the files or cases as an “appropriate Division Bench” cannot be constituted at Itanagar to hear the appeals against orders passed by a single judge.
The Court further found that in this case, the petitions were transferred as a respondent (General Manager of NHPC) in the case had its office in Assam. The Court also highlighted that its Principal Seat and outlying Benches in Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland now allowed hybrid hearings.
Thus, lawyers could not feign any difficulty in addressing the bench at Guwahati from Itanagar, the Court said.
The Court proceeded to dismissed the plea against the transfer of the petitions to Guwahati.