New Delhi: In a shocking revelation, former Supreme Court judge Justice Madan B. Lokur on Thursday revealed that the Union Government repeatedly pressed the Collegium to transfer Justice S. Muralidhar from the Delhi High Court. The pressure from the government came because of the verdict the judge delivered, Lokur said.

However, the transfer move did not find a result because key judges in the college opposed it, but soon after the retirement of the judges who opposed the transfer pressure, Justice Muralidhar was transferred. Through a notification issued by the law ministry in 2020, the government transferred Muralidhar from Delhi High Court to Punjab and Haryana High Court after the President signed the order.

Read Also: Justice Rohinton Nariman Proposes Involving Retired Judges In Collegium for Judicial Appointments

Justice Lokur made the disclosure in his recently launched book titled ‘[In]Complete Justice? Supreme Court at 75’ that the government urged the transfer of Justice Muralidhar during his tenure in the Collegium, adding that it did not happen back then since he opposed it. He further pointed out that after his retirement in 2018, it was Justice A.K. Sikri who stood against the proposal.

After Sikri’s retirement in March 2019, the government again made the transfer proposal and eventually Justice Muralidhar was “arbitrarily” transferred from the Delhi High Court in 2020, the former top court judge revealed.

Read Also: Impeachment Explained As The Centre Likely To Move Against Justice Yashwant Varma In Cash Row

According to reports, the union government’s proposals and the transfer order of justice Muralidhar came after a bench comprising him and Justice Talwant Singh slammed the Delhi police for not registering a case against BJP leaders for their hate speeches.