Justice Rajiv Shakder returns to Delhi High Court

Justice Rajiv Shakdher will return to his parent high court in Delhi after a two-year stint at the Madras High Court.

In 2015, Justice Shakdher was transferred to Madras after he set aside a lookout notice issued by the Intelligence Bureau against Greenpeace activist Priya Pillai to prevent her from going abroad to address a parliamentary group in United Kingdom.

In January, Pillai was off-loaded at the Delhi airport just as she was about to board a flight for London, where she was going to brief the Parliament about activities of a British multinational company in Madhya Pradesh's Mahan area.

This brazen assault on a citizen's right to liberty and free speech had invited much wrath and criticism. By staying this lookout notice, Justice Shakdher had thus defended her right to travel, and her right to express dissent.

Justice Shakder's order had embarrassed the central government and his transfer order which came soon after invited strong reactions from members of the bar. Several senior advocates including former Attorney General of India Soli Sorabjee felt that the Supreme Court collegium's decision to transfer Justice Shakdher had been unfair and unjustified.

In fact, Nariman had even written to the then Chief Justice of India TS Thakur seeking his intervention in this matter.

Nariman wrote: "We had been looking forward with great anticipation to the promises held out in the NJAC judgment in regard to the principles, particularly the principle of transparency, which would govern future appointments to the higher judiciary as well as on the very sensitive issue of transfer of judges. We are disappointed by the lack of transparency in this case."

According to the notification issued, Justice Shadher will resume duties at his parent court by January 16.