It is believed that the court should always maintain a fair view and court should not only do fair justice but the justice should be pronounced in such a manner that a clear message should be made that justice is made. The judiciary is the most trusted body to deliver justice and has always maintained a very strict view regarding fairness in trial procedure and trial fairness. So in order to protect the reputation of the courts and maintain high order of moral standard between the members of judiciary the code of criminal procedure and the civil procedure code have enough reasonable grounds to transfer cases from one court to another court. A recent high profile case regarding this is making headlines now a days and the facts of the case are:-

Transfer of Judge in Criminal Case
Transfer of Judge in Criminal Case
  • The Delhi High Court Registrar General on Wednesday sought CBI’s response to a plea of Abhay Singh Chautala, son of former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala, seeking transfer of a disproportionate assets (DA) case against him to some other
  • Chautala claimed that he apprehends he would not get a fair trial if his case continues to be presided over by the special judge.
  • The Delhi High Court observed that the judge in question was appointed by the High Court to deal with cases pertaining to MPs and MLAs on orders of the Supreme Court.
  • Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal, the judge in question, was informed by counsel, representing the High Court’s administration, that another judge would have to be designated to specially deal with it, if the court decides to transfer the case.
  • He further added that filing of plea has been done to overcome the sessions court.
  • The counsel informed the court that to deal with the matters of involving MPs/ MLAs, it was set up by a special notification and there is only one judge each at sessions court and magisterial court to hear them.
  • When asked whether the district judge concerned can deal with the transfer application, the counsel said that the district judge will not have the power to do it as the special court was set up by the high court on the administrative side on the orders of the apex court.
  • The court asked the counsel to seek further instructions from the registrar general on the issue and listed the matter for hearing on March 18.
  • A notice has been issued by the court on Wednesday to the CBI and the registrar general on the petition.
  • The high court, in its order, also said that since the DA case was listed before the special CBI judge on Thursday, both Abhay and the agency “shall seek joint adjournment”.
  • The counsel, appearing on the behalf of Abhay, had told the high court that it was within its inherent power to transfer the case from one special court to another.
  • Special public prosecutor Rajdipa Behura, appearing for the CBI, on the other hand, contended that the transfer petition “is a total abuse of process of law and has only been moved to delay the trial”.
  • Chautala has appealed that the DA case is to be withdrawn from the special CBI judge hearing it presently and be assigned to someone else.

This post is written by Dipti Prakash of Punjab University (2020 batch). For more info on subject, please dial 99888-17966.