Gujarat High Court Pulls Man For Accusing Judge Of 'Manipulating' Order, Prohibits Him From Appearing As Party In Person

The Gujarat High Court has taken strong exception to the pleadings of a party-in-person for accusing a sitting judge of manipulating the judicial order and it has prohibited him from appearing as party-in-person.

Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal also directed the Registry to initiate contempt action against Jatin Sitabhai Patel. “The assertions made by the party in person in the court and the application moved before me, in the capacity of the Chief Justice of the High Court, are to scandalize the learned judge and in turn this high court," the CJ said.

Patel had raised concerns regarding a special criminal application, insinuating that a previous judge's order had been tampered with. He claimed that despite withdrawing his petition earlier, the order appeared to have been manipulated. During the hearing, Patel explained that he had previously requested Justice Ilesh J Vora on April 3, to allow him to withdraw his petition. Justice Vohra verbally permitted his arguments and ordered the matter to be disposed of. Patel presented evidence to the Court, asserting that the status of the case was initially marked as "disposed of" when Justice Vohra issued the order. However, he alleged that the status had changed to "pending" afterward, indicating potential manipulation of the order.

The Chief Justice then inquired about the single judge's directions in the previous hearing and whether he had placed the matter for rehearing - to which the petitioner confirmed in the affirmative.

The Chief Justice replied, "So that can be done. See if I heard the matter and I have decided it in the open court, till the order is signed it is not a judgement. Now if I have a second thought that no, I want to be reheard or some clarification is required, the matter can be posted again in the Court and this is what he has done. There is nothing wrong in it...Without the file being there, the matter cannot be withdrawn...Don't create a scandal of everything.”

When the petitioner pleaded ignorance, the CJ responded firmly, “If you don't have knowledge about anything, you cannot cast any doubt upon the integrity of a judge. This is not permitted at all. And then you are appearing in the Court and saying this. Then when the Court is taking you for a task then you're saying you don't have knowledge. You are everyday appearing in the Court as a party in person. If you do not have knowledge of the proceedings, then we are not permitting you to appear as a party in person.”

Following this, the CJ directed the Registrar Judicial to ensure that Patel is not permitted to appear in any matter as party in person. The matter has also been directed to be placed before the Contempt bench to initiate appropriate proceedings against Patel for his conduct in undermining the dignity of the High Court.

LL Citation: 2024 Livelaw (Guj) 40