SC Collegium Recommends Transfer of Two Judges to Telangana High Court - 2024-02-16

The Supreme Court collegium has recommended to the Union government to transfer Justices Sujoy Paul, of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, and Moushumi Bhattacharya, of the Calcutta High Court, to the Telangana High Court.

The SC Collegium comprising Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Justice B.R. Gavai, Justice Surya Kant and Justice Aniruddha Bose approved the resolutions regarding the transfer requests made by the judges.

Justice Sujoy Paul was born in 1964 and enrolled as an advocate in 1990 with the Madhya Pradesh High Court, practising multiple specialisations. He was appointed the additional judge of the MP HC on May 27, 2011, and appointed a permanent judge on April 14, 2014. He sought a transfer out of Madhya Pradesh citing his son practising as a lawyer in the state’s HC. Justice Paul is the third seniormost judge from the HC.

Justice Moushumi Bhattacharya was born in 1967, completed her law course in 1996 and enrolled as an advocate in 1997. She did her LLM at the University of Cambridge, on a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship. She was awarded a certificate of qualification by the National Committee on Accreditation, Canada. She practised in the Calcutta High Court, as well as the Supreme Court of India, the High Courts of Delhi, Patna and Telangana, the Company Law Board, the Debt Recovery Tribunal, and Securities and Exchange Board of India.

She was elevated as an additional judge of the Calcutta High Court on September 21, 2017, and appointed a permanent judge in 2019. Justice Bhattacharya requested the SC Collegium to transfer her from the Calcutta High Court to any other High Court for personal reasons. The SC Collegium acceded to their requests and resolved to recommend the same to the Union government for necessary steps.