Judgment

VERMA J.:- These matters are a sequel to the decision by a nine-Judge Bench in SC Advocates-on-Record Association v. Union of India, (1993) 4 SCC 441 (hereinafter called the "Judges Case-II"), and relate to the question of transfer of Judges of the High Courts under Art. 222 of the Constitution of India.

2. Civil Appeal No. 140 of 1994 by Special leave is against the judgment of the Andhra Pradesh High Court dismissing a writ petition filed by the appellant, K. Ashok Reddy. In substance, the relief claimed in the writ petition was a declaration that Judges of the High Court are not liable to be transferred from one to another High Court. It was contended that the transfers were likely to be influenced by extraneous considerations leading to arbitrariness resulting in erosion of the independence of judiciary. Another contention was that the decision by the nine-Judge Bench in the Judges Case-II (1993 AIR SCW 4101) excludes the power of judicial review and is, therefore, in conflict with the decision of a larger Bench in His Holiness Kesavananda Bharati Sripadagalavaru v. State of Kerala, 1973 (Supp) SCR I . The Andhra Pradesh High Court rejected these contentions taking the v