Jayant Patel, Karnataka HC judge, quits over transfer

Team Udayavani, Sep 27, 2017, 9:16 AM IST

Bengaluru: Justice Jayant Patel, senior-most judge in the state after chief justice S K Mukherjee, resigned on Monday. As a judge of the Gujarat High Court, Patel had ordered a CBI inquiry into the Ishrat Jahan encounter case.

Patel has sent his resignation to President Ramnath Kovind and Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra. He had just been transferred to the Allahabad High Court. He was to take over as the third most senior judge there. Speaking briefly to reporters here on Tuesday, he said, “I’m not desirous to go to Allahabad High Court and that is the reason why I have tendered my resignation. There is no other reason apart from that.”

He said he had just about 10 months to go for retirement and did not wish to “go to another place from here.” He was to retire in August 2018. Asked if the orders he had passed as a judge in the Gujarat High Court had adversely affected his career, Patel just said he had done his duty diligently and passed orders according to the law. He said he always passed unbiased orders on the basis of material placed before him, and never even looked at the names.

Acting CJ position

Patel was to take over as the acting chief justice next month as chief justice S K Mukherjee retires on October 9.
He was also due for elevation to the Supreme Court, a decision deferred many times. Patel said he had served the judiciary for 16 years and destiny had led him to end his career in Karnataka. “I have very sweet memories from the Karnataka High Court that I will take along with me,” he remarked.

Ishrat Jahan case

On 15 June, 2004, Ishrat Jahan (19) and four men were shot dead in what the Gujarat police described as an encounter. They maintained Ishrat and her associates were out to assassinate Narendra Modi, then Gujarat chief minister.

Questions were raised, and senior policemen were subsequently convicted of staging a fake encounter. The case has since taken many twists and turns, with David Headley, an American terrorist of Pakistani origin, describing Ishrat as a Lashkar-e-Taiba operative.

Justice Jayant Patel, who resigned from the Karnataka on Monday, had ordered a CBI inquiry into the fake encounter case.