New Delhi: Amid a controversy over his transfer and subsequent resignation by Karnataka High Court judge Justice Jayant Patel, sources in the Supreme Court Collegium Tuesday said that the decision to move out the judge was "unanimous".
According to the highly placed sources, all the five SC judges in the Collegium were on the same page in taking a call to transfer Justice Patel from Karnataka HC to Allahabad HC.
"The decision was an unanimous one, based on the inputs before the Collegium. All the members of the Collegium took this decision unanimously," sources told CNN-News18.
They added that there was no dissent recorded by any of the five senior most judges in the apex court during the meeting of the Collegium, following which Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra took the final call to send Justice Patel to Allahabad HC.
Besides, there were pertinent inputs on record regarding Justice Patel, further justifying the decision to transfer him, added the sources.
Justice Patel's transfer had created a controversy since the judge was shifted out of Karnataka at a time when he was set to take over as the acting chief justice of Karnataka HC. His transfer to Allahabad HC at the age of 61 meant he could not become a chief justice in any HC nor could he be elevated to the Supreme Court since a HC judge retires at 62.
Justice Patel resigned immediately after receiving the transfer order and his resignation was accepted by the President as well.
A section of lawyers alleged Justice Patel's transfer was a punitive one. They further claimed the judge had to suffer this fate only because he, while functioning as a judge in Gujarat HC, had transferred the probe into Ishrat Jahan encounter killing case to CBI. The encounter killing case had then named Amir Shah as one of the accused.
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