CBI gets nod to take action against Justice Tahilramani

Trouble ensued for Justice Vijaya K Tahilramani, who recently resigned as chief justice of Madras High Court, as CBI has got a nod from Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi to take action "in accordance with law” on the alleged adverse intelligence report about her.

According to official sources, Intelligence Bureau recently submitted a 5-page report after Justice Tahilramani resigned following the collegium's recommendation to transfer her on August 28 to the Meghalaya High Court.

Confirming the development, the sources referred to the report of alleged irregularities in property transactions and taking some decisions on the administrative side as the chief justice of Madras High Court.

The collegium, headed by the CJI, had recommended transfer of Justice Tahilramani, who was elevated as the Madras High Court's chief justice on August 8 last year, to the Meghalaya High Court.

The collegium, also comprising justices S A Bobde, N V Ramana, Arun Mishra and R F Nariman, had recommended her transfer on August 28, after which she had made a representation requesting it to reconsider the proposal.

She had protested against the collegium's decision to not consider her request against transferring her to the Meghalaya High Court.

Lawyers in Chennai and in some places in her home state of Maharashtra had also raised the banner of protest against the collegiums decision.

Later, the Supreme Court on September 12 said each of the recommendations for transfer of Chief Justices and Judges of various High Courts was based on "cogent reasons".

Without naming Justice Tahilramani, a statement issued by the office of apex court's Secretary General Sanjeev S Kalgaonkar had said the reasons of transfer of judges were not disclosed in the interest of the institution but the apex court collegium would not hesitate to disclose them in the circumstance it becomes necessary.

The judge resigned on September 6, days after the Supreme Court Collegium declined her request for reconsideration of her transfer.

She sent her resignation letter to President Ram Nath Kovind, a copy of which was sent to CJI Gogoi.

President Ram Nath Kovind later accepted Justice Tahilramani's resignation, a government notification said on September 21.

Her resignation has been accepted with effect from September 6, it said.