Following the communiqué signed by President Pranab Mukherjee that has been received by Madras High Court Justice CS Karnan, who recently ‘stayed’ the CJI’s order for his transfer, has been asked to join Calcutta High Court on or before March 11.
Justice Karnan had courted controversy earlier this month when he stayed his transfer order and directed Chief Justice of India to file a reply by April 29. Around the same time, Apex Court directed Madras High Court Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul to not assign any judicial work to him.
This was after the Madras High Court Registrar General, through senior advocate K.K. Venugopal submitted before a bench headed by Justice J.S. Khehar that Justice Karnan had sent a word that he would suo motu stay his transfer order. The Madras HC Registrar General, in his affidavit, had stated that Justice Karnan lashed out at him, and used expletives when he went to his house, asking him “how dare you transfer me to Calcutta?”
Soon after, Justice Karnan sent a letter to the Chief Justice of India, Justice J.S. Khehar and Justice R. Banumathi, regretting his acts, and stating that he had passed an “erroneous order” because he was mentally frustrated, resulting in “loss of mental balance”.