But the incident became the reason for Justice Sethna’s transfer out of the Gujarat High Court. Although he wrote a long letter to the Chief Justice of India, praying for a probe into the allegations of physical attack by him on Justice Majmudar, he was transferred to the Sikkim High Court while Majmudar was transferred to the Rajasthan High Court. While Majmudar joined his new posting, Sethna preferred to resign.

Even before this, he had landed in several other controversies after being appointed as a high court judge in November 1990. In 1994, he was pulled up by the Supreme Court for hearing a case in which he had himself appeared as an advocate. Subsequently, he was accused of “bad behaviour” with the bar by the Gujarat High Court Advocates’ Association in 1997, following which he was transferred to the Rajasthan High Court. In Rajasthan, he again courted controversy in September 1997 when he issued a contempt notice against Chief Justice M G Mukherjee of the High Court.

The provocation for the contempt notice was Justice Mukherjee transferring a criminal case that had been partly heard by Justice Sethna to a division bench for further hearing and disposal. However, contempt orders were stayed by the Supreme Court on a special leave petition filed by Justice Mukherjee himself.

Justice Sethna, who resigned in April 2007, still continues to occupy the sprawling bungalow in Judges Colony here. A High Court official said that Justice Sethna had been given extension by the chief justice.

... contd.