IN A highly unusual admission, the Supreme Court collegium, headed by Chief Justice of India B R Gavai, Wednesday said that it had changed its recommendation regarding transfer of a judge after the government “sought reconsideration” of its earlier decision.
On August 25, the Collegium had recommended the transfer of Madhya Pradesh High Court judge Justice Atul Sreedharan to Chhattisgarh High Court. Justice Sreedharan has now been recommended for a transfer to the Allahabad High Court.
“The Supreme Court Collegium, in its meeting held on 14th October, 2025, on reconsideration sought by the Government, resolved to recommend that Mr. Justice Atul Sreedharan, Judge, High Court of Madhya Pradesh, be transferred to the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad instead of the High Court of Chhattisgarh,” a statement by the Collegium said.
Although the Collegium has, in the past, reconsidered its decisions on transferring judges, it is unusual for the statement to specify that the government sought the reconsideration.
Had Justice Sreedharan been transferred to the Chhattisgarh High Court, he would have been the second most senior judge in that High Court. In the Allahabad High Court, he is likely to be seventh in seniority.
Justice Sreedharan was appointed a judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court in 2016. As a lawyer, he practised in the chambers of senior advocate Gopal Subramanium for five years before he moved his practice to Indore.
In 2023, he had voluntarily sought a transfer out of Madhya Pradesh, citing that his daughter would begin her practice in Indore. He was transferred to the Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court and, in 2025, moved back to Madhya Pradesh.
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During his tenure in Srinagar, Justice Sreedharan brought greater judicial scrutiny to preventive detention cases, quashing several cases under the Public Safety Act.
In the MP High Court, Justice Sreedharan was part of a division bench which took suo motu cognisance of the matter following media reports that state minister Vijay Shah had allegedly made inflammatory remarks against Indian Army officer Colonel Sofiya Qureshi and ensured an FIR was registered by the state police.
The minister had said that “India had taught a lesson to those responsible for the Pahalgam terror attack using their own sister (unki samaaj ki behen ke zariye)”, triggering a backlash and a reprimand from the court.
