The Guwahati High Court has Justice Ramesh Surajmal Garg as their new Chief Justice. An integral part of the Madhya Pradesh Bench since 1995, he was the Acting Chief Justice of the High Court of Chattisgarh for nearly a year between 2000-01. Later transferred back to the Madhya Pradesh High Court, he was yet again the Acting Chief Justice for a month in 2009.

Justice Garg’s appointment as a Chief Justice comes during difficult times. Justice Garg is scheduled to retire on June 18 when he turns 62. Justice Garg’s appointment though might seem disconnected, is important for Justice Dinakaran.

As reported earlier, Justice Dinakaran was scheduled to be appointed to the High Court of Sikkim, that  proposal was scrapped on account of insurmountable opposition from the Bar at Gangtok. Justice Madan Lokur, who was slated to be appointed as the Chief Justice of Karnataka was appointed to the High Court of Sikkim earlier this month. Now with Justice Garg’s appointment as the Chief Justice of Guwahati, Justice Dinakaran’s fate continues to be in a limbo.

Chief Justice Barin Ghosh, of the Jammu & Kashmir High Court who was earlier scheduled to be appointed as the Chief Justice of Sikkim, is now being transferred to the Uttarakhand High Court, while the incumbent Chief Justice of the latter, Justice Aftab S. Saikia is to preside over the affairs at the Jammu & Kashmir High Court.

That is not all. Justice T. Meena Kumari, the senior most judge of the Andhra Pradesh High Court has been recommended for elevation to the Himachal Pradesh High Court. Formerly a government pleader, she was elevated as an Additional Judge of the Andhra Pradesh High Court in 1998 before being transferred to the Madras High Court the same year.  She returned to the High Court of Andhra Pradesh in 2001.

The Chief Justice of the Patna High Court, Deepak Misra is scheduled to reprise the same role at the Delhi High Court. Justice Misra was appointed as the Chief Justice of the former court, only in December 2009. He started his legal career in the High Court of Orissa to which he was elevated in 1996. Transferred to the Madhya Pradesh High Court in 1997, he was handed charge of the Patna High Court in 2009.

It is no long shot to speculate that these transfers are partially influenced by the long standing controversy. Justice Dinakaran, damages his reputation each day he continues as the Chief Justice of Karnataka. Most expected the Judge to seek the moral high route and tender his resignation until his name was cleared. However, as things stand, Justice Dinakaran’s future in the Indian judiciary may have gone from bleak to dark.