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Reinstate sacked judicial officers, SC orders MP high court
The Supreme Court ordered the reinstatement of four women judicial officers in Madhya Pradesh but denied back wages, citing performance issues.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Madhya Pradesh high court to take immediate steps to reinstate four out of six women judicial officers, who were terminated from duty in May last year primarily for not meeting the required standards of case disposal.
The apex court had initiated a suo motu (on its own) petition in the matter last December and directed the high court to reconsider its decision.
“The high court may issue orders as expeditiously as possible so that the officers can rejoin duty on reinstatement,” a bench headed by justice BV Nagarathna said.
The court, however, declined the judicial officers’ request for back wages. “Our conscience does not permit to do it. When they did not work as judge, they cannot expect back wages,” the bench, also comprising justice N Kotiswar Singh, said.
On August 1, the high court had decided to reinstate four of the six women civil judges on probation — Jyoti Varkade (posted at Harda), Sonakshi Joshi (posted at Morena), Priya Sharma (posted at Indore), and Rachna Atulkar Joshi (posted at Rewa) — without any back wages. However, in case of two other officers — Sarita Chaudhary and Aditi Kumar Sharma — the high court’s August 1 resolution said: “After considering the ACR gradings, disposal statistics, adverse remarks, complaints made against them and their overall performance, Full Court is of the view that the termination of Sarita Chaudhary and Aditi Kumar Sharma cannot be revoked.”
The high court also produced the material against them in a sealed cover before the top court, which kept the proceedings in connection with the two officers pending.
Senior advocate R Basant, appearing for some of the reinstated officers, urged the bench to consider granting them back wages, saying the young and meritorious judicial officers suffered on account of the Covid-19 pandemic, which affected their disposal rate for the period from March 2020 to December 2021.
Justice Nagarathna presiding over the bench shared her personal view that judges should not expect salary for not performing any work. “I feel so bad to get my salary during the summer vacation as we have not worked then except for the period when we hold vacation bench. The ones who are reinstated cannot expect to get back wages,” she added.
Earlier, the top court initiated a petition after three of the women officers sent a representation to the Chief Justice of India (CJI) claiming to be wrongly denied confirmation in service after end of their probation period. In January, the top court issued notice on the petition and appointed senior advocate Gaurav Agarwal as amicus curiae in the matter.
The remaining three officers moved separate applications and petitions to join the proceedings in the apex court. On July 23, the Supreme Court urged the high court’s Full Court to give a second thought to its decision, which led to the culmination of proceedings against four officers.
