The Supreme Court Collegium has recently proposed the transfer of Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari from the Madhya Pradesh High Court to the Kerala High Court.
A resolution to this effect was passed by the Collegium, headed by Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna, on April 3.
Justice Dharmadhikari, currently the fourth judge in terms of seniority in the Madhya Pradesh High Court, is due to retire on July 7, 2028.
In case the Centre accepts the recommendation, Justice Dharmadhikari will become the eighth judge in terms of seniority in the Kerala High Court.
He was appointed as judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court on April 7, 2016.
Though the exact reason behind the transfer of Justice Dharmadhikari was yet to be known, it was presumed that the decision followed the February 4, 2025 verdict of the Apex Court criticising Justice Dharmikari for judicial impropriety.
On February 4, 2025, the Division Bench of Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan stayed an order passed by the Indore Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, headed by Justice Dharmadhikari.
The matter pertained to the conduct of elections in the governing body of Shri Astha Foundation for Education, an educational society established in 2006 under the Madhya Pradesh Societies Registration Act, 1973, and having 21 members (as of January 30, 2016).
On April 23, 2024, the Division Bench led by Justice Dharmadhikari ordered the Registrar, Firms and Societies to perform the statutory duty and act upon the representation made by the petitioners and conduct free & fair election of the society as per the list of members and governing body of the last election on January 30, 2016, in accordance with law.
The petitioners before the High Court included members of Shri Astha Foundation for Education.
As per the by-laws of the society, 2/3rd majority was required to pass any resolution and for the removal of any member. The tenure of the elected body was three years.
This order was challenged by the educational society and others before the Supreme Court.
On May 15, 2024, the Bench of Justice Oka and Justice Bhuyan upheld the direction to conduct elections, however, it set aside the direction to hold the election based on the list of members/voters as of January 30, 2016.
The top court of the country ruled that the polls to be held in 2024 could not be based on the list of members or voters as prevailing on January 30, 2016.
Therefore, the Apex Court remanded the matter back to the High Court only for a limited purpose of deciding the issue of list of voters on the basis of which election should be held.
Justice Dharmadhikari passed a final order on October 4, 2024, stating that he was mindful of the specific direction given by the Apex Court that the election should not be held on the basis of the list of members/voters as on January 30, 2016. However, considering the manner in which the parties pursued litigation in the first round, such direction was given based on incomplete material placed on record before the Apex Court, he added.
The Bench led by Justice Oka observed that after perusing the records, as well as the Registrar’s report, the Supreme Court was of the firm opinion that the annual list dated January 30, 2016 was the only valid and five legally constituted list of the Society’s governing body in accordance with the 2007 byelaws till date.
All subsequent annual lists as brought on record lacked conformity with the 2007 bye-laws and did not provide sufficient evidence to establish their legitimacy. Justice Dharmadhikari indulged in gross judicial impropriety by commenting on the order of remand passed by the Supreme Court. He even ordered, once again, to hold elections as per the list of voters as of January 30, 2016, which the Supreme Court had already found to be impermissible, it added.
The top court of the country said that the High Court had virtually set at naught the order of this Court.
Citing the operative part of the impugned judgment and paragraph 74, the Bench observed that the High Court directed the Registrar, Firms and Societies, Madhya Pradesh to conduct free and fair elections of the society as per the list of members/voters dated January 30, 2016. Therefore, the High Court passed an order which was completely contrary to order of this Court, it added.
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