Chief Justice of India S H Kapadia has written letters to the chief justices of all high courts to work out the modalities for transferring some of the judges from the states.
Highly placed sources said the development is at a nascent stage and the views of the chief justices of high courts have been sought as the transfer of judges has been contemplated in 'public interest'.
"The entire exercise has been undertaken in public interest," the sources said but refused to give specific reasons as to why such a step was being taken.
It is understood that the CJI may have taken the step in the wake of charges that have been made against some of the judges. The letter by CJI was written ten days ago, in which he asked the chief justices to get response from the judges about the preference of the high court where they would like to be transferred.
The sources said keeping in view the present composition of the judges in 21 high courts, it has been decided to relocate nearly 20 judges.
Information available suggest that there are three judges each from the Punjab and Haryana high court and Madras high court while two are from the Delhi high court.
After getting the response of the high court chief justices and judges, the Supreme Court collegium consisting of the CJI and four senior most judges will forward its recommendation to the law ministry. However, no specific time-frame has been stipulated for completing the job.
