16 judges including judge hearing Delhi Riots cases transferred by Delhi High Court

The Delhi Higher Judicial Services saw a major reshuffle by the Delhi High Court in relation to transfer and postings of 16 judicial officers, including one of the two designated judges hearing Delhi riots cases in the national capital..A notice to this effect listed out names of 16 such officers — among them was Additional Sessions Judge Virender Bhatt, who was designated to hear riots cases at Karkardooma Courts in the Delhi’s northeast region..“The judicial officers under transfer shall notify cases in which they had reserved judgments/orders before relinquishing the charge … The judicial officers shall pronounce judgments/orders in all such matters on the date fixed or maximum within a period of 2-3 weeks, notwithstanding the posting/transfer. Date of pronouncement shall be notified in the causelist of the court to which the matter pertains as also of the court to which the judicial officer has been transferred and on the website," it read..A source privy to the hearings informed that judge Bhatt’s court had over 50 cases of Delhi riots stemming from the violence that took place in February, 2020..The judge had recently charged former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillor Tahir Hussain and five others for criminal conspiracy and rioting, and other offences in a riots case.In April, the judge had framed charges of rioting and other offences against six men for allegedly vandalising and setting ablaze two establishments during Delhi riots..The same month, he had observed it was a "sheer wastage" of judicial time if charges were to be framed against three accused in another riots case and discharged them.His transfer without a replacement is likely to prolong the hearings of the high volume of cases..In October last year, 11 judicial officers including Additional Sessions Judge Vinod Yadav who was then hearing Delhi riots cases was transferred, but Bhatt had replaced him.Besides Bhatt, the other 15 judicial officers who have been transferred are Barkha Gupta, Pankaj Gupta, Sanjeev Kumar Aggarwal, Umed Singh, Hemani Malhotra, Vineeta Goyal, Sanjeev Aggarwal, Sanjeev Kumar Malhotra, Kiran Bansal, Rakesh Kumar, Ashish Aggarwal, Shuchi Laler, Priya Mahendra, Sharad Gupta and Ajay Garg..[Read Notice]