MP High Court Recalls Order Asking Registrar General To Approach SC Against Own Judge's Remarks On Sessions Judge

The Madhya Pradesh High Court has recalled its direction asking the Registrar General to file a special leave petition before the Supreme Court against the 'disparaging' remarks made by a single judge against a sessions judge, ultimately deciding to address the issue through its in-house administrative mechanism. The controversy traces back to an order passed by Justice Rajesh Kumar Gupta, while hearing a bail application, which directed an inquiry into an order of the First Additional Session Judge in connection with an alleged large-scale misappropriation of government funds in Shivpuri District.The case involved allegations that one Roopsingh Parihar, a computer operator assisting in land acquisition matters, diverted approximately ₹5.10 crore into his personal accounts using forged documents. In his order, Justice Gupta observed that the First Additional Session Judge had discharged the accused from serious offences, including bribery, cheating, criminal breach of trust, forgery and others, without proper consideration of facts, allegedly granting undue advantage to the accused. The case stemmed from a large-scale misappropriation of government funds related to land acquisition payments in Shivpuri District.Roopsingh Parihar, the applicant in this case seeking bail, was employed as a computer operator in the government office to assist with the land acquisition cases. It is alleged that he diverted ₹5.10 crores to his personal accounts, based on forged and fabricated documents.Subsequently, the division bench of Justice Atul Sreedharan and Justice Pradeep Mittal, who took cognisance of the single judge's order, noted that certain remarks, particularly in paragraph 12 of the order, went beyond the permissible judicial criticism and amounted to 'damning and disparaging' remarks. Therefore, the division bench directed the Registrar General to file a Special Leave Petition before the Supreme Court within 10 days. Subsequently, on April 22, the division bench of Chief Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva and Justice Vinay Saraf revisited the issue and noted that the matter was already placed before the administrative committee of the High Court and would be handled under an in-house mechanism. The division bench ordered; "Keeping that in mind that the proceedings have already been placed before the Administrative Committee for its consideration and the matter is under active consideration of the Administrative Committee, we recall the order dated 22.9.2025 in so far as it issued a direction to the Registrar General of this Court to approach the Supreme Court, and direct that further action be taken in accordance with the recommendation of the Administrative Committee and by the Competent Authority thereafter". Thus, the petition was closed. Case Title: Court in its own motion v High Court of Madhya Pradesh, WP-38432-2025Click here to read/download the Order

MP High Court Recalls Order Asking Registrar General To Approach SC Against Own Judge's Remarks On Sessions Judge

Jayanti Pahwa

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