Those sitting on the throne will not be there tomorrow, Justice Atul Sreedharan said quoting an Urdu poem on Thursday as he bid adieu to the Madhya Pradesh High Court following his transfer to the Allahabad High Court.

Justice Sreedharan was most recently transferred to the Allahabad High Court on October 18, days after the Supreme Court Collegium acceded to the government's request to not transfer him to Chhattisgarh High Court, as recommended earlier. His transfer, particularly in light of the government’s interference, raised eyebrows.

The latest transfer comes just few months after Justice Sreedharan was transferred back to his parent High Court in Madhya Pradesh from the Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court.

Speaking at a farewell reference in Jabalpur, Justice Sreedharan said that transfers are an incident of service and he was excited and looking forward to serving at Allahabad High Court, the largest High Court in the country.

However, he also spoke his mind through the words of Urdu poet Rahat Indori.

"The only thing permanent in universe is impermanence and I would like to look at the transfers in the words of Rahat Indori, the pride of Indore, who said: Jo aaj sahib-e-masnad hai kal nahi honge (those who are sitting on the throne today, will not be there tomorrow), kiraaye daar hain zaati makaan thodi hai (they are renters, it is not their house)," Justice Sreedharan said.

Justice Sreedharan was part of the High Court Collegium in Madhya Pradesh and would have been in a similar position a the Chhattisgarh High Court. However, in Allahabad, he will be at number seven in seniority.

He had been transferred from Madhya Pradesh to Jammu and Kashmir in April 2023 after the judge himself had sought the transfer on grounds of his daughter entering law practice in Madhya Pradesh. He was transferred back to Madhya Pradesh in March this year.

In his speech today, Justice Sreedharan thanked Chief Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva and other judges for a "peaceful" "short second stint" at the High Court.

"I am grateful to Justice Sachdeva for the peaceful time I have had here. He embodies the very notion of a people's judge, learned yet humble, polite yet firm, accommodative yet resolute," he said.

He also thanked the Bar for "tolerating his second innings" with such grace and compassion. He also gave credits to Senior Advocates Gopal Subramanium and Satyendra Kumar Vyas, with whom he had practiced as an advocate.

"I am what I am as a judge because of my two gurus, Mr. Gopal Subramanium and Mr. Satyendra Kumar Vyas and all of you fine ladies and gentlemen of the Bar who gave me the space to expand in girth and worth, if I may say so, in a lighter vein, and who have tolerated my idiosyncrasies and my momentary lapse of balance on the Bench. I have no doubt in my mind when I say that the Bar is the most powerful sentinel for the Bench, and I hope and pray that the relationship between the two in my parent High Court touches the heights of cordiality and singularity of purpose, as that would be the greatest guarantee of the preservation of constitutional values in our society," he said.

At the event, the Bar leaders also spoke against Justice Sreedharan's repeated transfers.

President of the High Court Advocates’ Bar Association, Jabalpur, Sanjay Agrawal said such frequent transfers, even though guided by administrative exigencies, inevitably disrupt the continuity of justice and the building of a stable judicial environment.

“For the Bar, it is always a challenge to lose a judge with whom we have only just begun to develop understanding and rhythm. For litigants, these transfers can sometimes mean a loss of consistency in adjudication and for the institution itself, it slows down the natural process of growth that comes from a settled bench,” he said.

Agrawal also highlighted that the earlier proposal to transfer Justice Sreedharan to Chhattisgarh High Court was reconsidered on the request of the Central government.

“This development brings to light the larger issue that concerns the very independence of the judiciary. While administrative decisions may evolve, the sanctity of transfer of judges of the High Court must remain free from any executive interference. The judiciary must function without fear or favour and any perception of external influence in such matters risks undermining the faith of people in the impartiality of our institutions. It is imperative that constitutional balance between the executive and judiciary is preserved, ensuring that the latter continues to act as a fearless guardian of justice,” he said. 

President of the High Court Bar Association (Gwalior) Pawan Pathak in his address said the repeated transfers of Justice Sreedharan was pointing to some "unwanted pressure". He said the Association condemns the same and stands for the independence of the judges.

Justice Sreedharan joined the chamber of Subramanium in 1992 at Delhi and assisted him till 1997 in several civil and criminal matters before the Supreme Court, Delhi High Court and trial courts.

He practiced independently in Delhi from 1997 to 2000 before shifting to Indore in 2001, where he continued independent practice and worked closely with Vyas.

He also served as Panel Advocate and Government Advocate for the State of Madhya Pradesh before the Indore Bench of the High Court.

He was appointed as an additional judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court on April 7, 2016, and was made a permanent judge on March 17, 2018.