The Punjab and Haryana High Court has rejected the appeal made to the Chief Justice to decide on a letter demanding the transfer of a case to another judge, due to allegations of discrimination. The High Court had said that doing so would interfere with the work of the Chief Justice.
Richa Singh, a resident of Gurugram, has a case of marital dispute under consideration in the High Court. In January 2020, Singh wrote to the Chief Justice alleging charges of discrimination against the Judge under whom her marital case was pending and requested the transfer of the case to another judge.
The appeal was filed in a single bench of the High Court after the Chief Justice did not decide on the letter’s demand. In the appeal, it was prayed to the Single Bench to order the Chief Justice to decide on the demand letter of the petitioner at the administrative level.
The single bench dismissed the petition as inappropriate for hearing. The order of a single bench was then challenged in the double bench. The bench rejected the plea of the petitioner.
The bench of Justice Jaswant Singh dismissed the plea and said the Chief Justice decides which case will be heard. The Chief Justice is the master of the roster and, in this case, ordering him to take a decision on the demand to change judge would be interfering with his work.
Also, there is no such legal provision that empowers the petitioner to give a demand letter to the Chief Justice to change the judge. When there is no provision, the writ petition cannot be heard. Even if such a directive was issued, it would not set the right example for the future, the Court observed.