New Delhi: Taking note of Government's objection to transfer of Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice B K Roy to Patna High Court, the Collegium of Judges (CJI) headed by Chief Justice of India R C Lahoti has recommended his transfer as Chief Justice to Guwahati High Court.

Law Minister H R Bharadwaj in a recent letter to CJI had pointed out that Justice Roy could not be transferred to Patna High Court as he had started his career from there.

In view of the objection, the Collegium has recommended transfer of Justice Roy to Guwahati High Court and appointment of Justice D K Jain, senior-most Judge of the Delhi High Court, as the Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court, highly placed sources told.

The Collegium felt Justice Roy could not be continued as the Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court in view of the controversies during his tenure as the Chief Justice of P&H High Court, they said.

Refusing reports regarding transfers of Judges of Punjab and Haryana High Court - Justices J S Singhvi, V K Bali, V M Jain and Nirmal Singh, the sources said these transfers have been made "in public interest and for securing better administration of Justice in the High Courts".

"These transfers are not punitive and have nothing to do with any incident which may have happened in Punjab & Haryana High Court as is being reported in some newspapers," they said.

It may be recalled that all the Judges had proceeded on a day's leave in the High Court protesting against their differences with Chief Justice Roy.

Due to the change in the posting of Justice Roy, the Collegium recommended appointment of Justice Rajeev Gupta, senior-most Judge of Madhya Pradesh High Court, as the Chief Justice of Jharkhand High Court instead of Chief Justice of Guwahati High Court as suggested earlier.

The Law Minister in his letter had cited a very high-level policy decision arrived in 1983 between the Government of India and the Chief Justice of India that a Chief Justice could not be appointed in the same High Court to which he belonged.

Along with the changes in the Punjab & Haryana High Court, the Collegium headed by Chief Justice of India has recommended appointment of Justice Altamas Kabir of Calcutta High Court as the Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir High Court.

Justice Kabir would replace Justice S N Jha, who would be transferred as the Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court, the sources said.

Justice A K Patnaik, the senior-most Judge of the Orissa High Court, has been recommended by the Collegium to be appointed as the Chief Justice of the Chhattisgarh High Court after the retirement of present Chief Justice A S V Moorthy on January 8, 2005.

Meanwhile, Justices Amitabh Lala and Baran Ghosh (both of Calcutta High Court) and Justices R B Mishra and S K Agrawal (both of Allahabad High Court) had represented against their transfers.

These representations have been rejected by the Collegium, the sources said adding they "shall have to move on orders of transfer being delivered to them".