Times of india / Nisha banu j issue

[21/11, 08:08] Sekarreporter: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/how-a-madras-high-court-judges-transfer-has-become-a-case-of-judicial-fairness/articleshow/125466189.cms
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How a Madras high court judge’s transfer has become a case of judicial fairness
A Subramani / TNN / Nov 20, 2025, 21:09 IST

Justice Nisha Banu’s transfer that pushes her down the ladder from number three in seniority to number nine has raised questions about the processes that govern court appointments

That grey areas and judicial appointments or transfers go hand in hand is neither a secret nor a surprise. Yet it did not get this grey in an issue concerning the service of a sitting judge of the Madras high court in recent memory – perhaps never before, and, hopefully, never again.

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First things first.
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Justice J Nisha Banu, a well-known and enterprising lawyer who had also once headed the women lawyers’ association at the Madurai bench of the Madras high court, was elevated to the high court bench on Oct 5, 2016. In a career on the bench spanning nine-plus years, Justice Nisha Banu has ascended the judicial ladder and is now number three on the seniority list. She is now a ‘collegium judge’.
Having been born in Sept 1966, she has three years of service left in the higher judiciary. In the seniority-conscious judicial framework, it means she has reached a take-off point from where she could become a chief justice of a high court or even judge of the Supreme Court, which as of now has only one woman judge in Justice B V Nagaratna, who will retire in Oct 2027 after becoming the first-ever woman chief justice of India.

At its Aug collegium meeting, the Supreme Court recommended the transfer of 14 judges of various high courts. That Justice Nisha Banu figured in the list was less surprising than the destination to which she was assigned – the Kerala high court. From her collegium position as number three in seniority, Justice Nisha Banu would be relegated to the number nine position at the Kerala high court.
Such a steep crash in seniority by way of transfer was, well, unusual, to say the least.

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Unlike many collegium recommendations, which are filtered at the govt level, Justice Nisha Banu’s transfer was notified by the Union ministry of law and justice on Oct 14.
The notification merely quoted Article 222 of the Constitution. It said Justice Nisha Banu has been transferred ‘to be a judge of Kerala high court’, directing “her to assume charge of her office in the Kerala high court”.
There was no window period mandating that she join the new court within a specific timeframe.

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It is a grey area. On paper, Justice Nisha Banu is on medical leave and is said to have requested reconsideration of her transfer. Ever since the transfer was notified, she has stopped attending courts or meetings.
The Bar has not remained as quiet though.
A section of lawyers has sent representations to the Supreme Court and the Union govt, flagging the issue of the robbed seniority of Justice Nisha Banu, saying it would curtail her career if she is forced to accept the ninth position in Kerala high court. She could have been transferred to Andhra Pradesh high court, where she would have automatically become the second-most-senior judge. Diluting the seniority of a judge to ninth position by way of transfer, when better positions are available elsewhere, is intriguing indeed.
As she has not joined the new court even a month after the transfer, another section has called it defiance and written to the Supreme Court and the Uni