Transfer Petition is an application filed before the courts to get a case transferred from one place to another, i.e. from one court to another court. It can be filed in both civil cases as well as criminal cases.

Transfer Petition is filed in the Higher Court having jurisdiction over both the courts, i.e. the court from which the case is sought to be transferred as well as the court where it is prayed to be transferred.

For Example, a Transfer Petition is required to be filed before District Judge or Chief Judicial Magistrate, when the case is required to be transferred from one Civil Judge/Judicial Magistrate to another within the same district.

Similarly, there are provisions to file Transfer Petitions before the High Courts as well as the Supreme Court of India. The power to transfer the cases has been conferred upon the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India and Hon’ble High Courts by the Constitution of India itself along with the powers conferred under the provisions of Code of Civil Procedure 1908 and Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, and Bhartiya Nagarik Surakhsa Sanhita, 2023.

Mostly, transfer petitions now a days are being sought to transfer cases of matrimonial disputes or divorce cases but are not restricted to the same and can be filed in different civil and criminal cases depending upon the circumstances and factors in each case.