:dateline:On March 5, Justice S. Muralidhar received a grand farewell party in Delhi High Court by lawyers and other judicial staff. Notably, Justice Muralidhar had pulled up the Delhi police for not indicting the BJP leaders for their inflammatory speeches.
Justice Muralidhar was immediately transferred to the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
After receiving this warm farewell, Justice Muralidhar also received a warm welcome on his arrival in Chandigarh same night.�
It is learnt that the chairman of the Bar Council of the Punjab and Haryana High Court reached on railway station on March 5 night to receive Justice Muralidhar. He was accompanied around 50 other lawyers.�
Banners were also put up in the streets of Chandigarh in welcome of Justice Muralidhar.�
Justice Muralidhar�s abrupt transfer to the Punjab and high court on February 19 by the Supreme Court Collegium was heavily criticized by the Delhi Bar Association, besides several legal luminaries questioning its timing. The Association had expressed shock, dismay and outrage at the Collegium�s decision to transfer out the third senior most judge of the Delhi High Court. It also resorted to a day�s strike against it on February 20.
The transfer of Justice Muralidhar, who served the high court for 14 years, came at a time when he was hearing some important petitions related to the recent Delhi riots, which has claimed at least 53 lives. The justice had also pulled up Delhi Police for failing to take appropriate and timely action to quell the violence. He had also questioned solicitor general Tushar Mehta for not following the Lalita Kumari guidelines�on registering an FIR against BJP leaders Kapil Mishra, Anurag Thakur and Parvesh Varma for delivering inflammatory speeches prior to the riots.
