District Judge Makes Disrespectful Imputations On Allahabad HC; Matter Referred To CJ [Read Order]

"The scene created by the Judicial Officer, Sri Manoj Kumar Shukla today inside the Court room has diminished the image of Judiciary which was unwarranted and also it manifested disrespect to this Court which is not expected of a Judicial Officer.

The conduct of the Judicial Officer in full view of the members of the Bar was not only disrespectful but was an attempt to show this Court in poor light. Our Constitutional Scheme recognizes and provides for a hierarchical system of Courts in achieving the goal of dispensation of justice. In such a hierarchy, if a Judge of a subordinate court fails to conduct himself in a manner expected of the Judicial Officer, it is not only bound to lower the dignity and majesty of the Court but it may even tend 6 to shake the faith and trust of the litigant who is the most important stake holder in the justice dispensation system," the bench of Justice Anil Kumar and Justice Saurabh Lavania said.

In the backdrop of the incident, the high court had summoned the Principal Judge, Family Court, Sultanpur, to explain how he had managed to pass an order under the Hindu Marriage Act, when the parties involved were Muslims.

Appearing on such directions, District Judge Manoj Kumar Shukla informed the court that the above matter had been mentioned and heard before his predecessor and that at the time of passing of the impugned order, he was not the Principal Judge of District Sultanpur.

On being asked who his predecessor Judge was who passed such an erroneous order, Shukla got furious and started accusing the high court for having called him unnecessarily. Despite being warned that his misdemeanor may call for "unwarranted consequences", he went on yelling and questioned about the functioning of the high court instead.

Shukla also tried to defend the erroneous order of the then Principal Judge, stating that such types of mistakes were committed by a Judicial Officer due to heavy rush of work and dearth of stenos in the Family Court.

In this regard the court remarked,

"even if there is heavy rush of work and lack of other infrastructural facilities, Judge is duty bound to see that whether he is passing the order correctly by applying the correct law."

The court said that the behavior and conduct of the Officer inside the Court room was such that even Members of the Bar felt annoyed and requested it to initiate appropriate action against him. However, the bench said that the most appropriate course of action would be to appraise the Chief Justice of the Officer's conduct and let him decide the actions to be taken against the Officer.

"we feel it appropriate to refer the entire matter to Hon'ble the Chief Justice, who being the parens patriae needs to be apprised of any such misdemeanor by a Judicial Officer, who in this case, most astonishingly is of the rank of District Judge.

We, therefore, direct the Senior Registrar to place this order before Hon'ble the Chief Justice for taking appropriate and necessary action."

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