New Delhi, Jan 12 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Friday took cognisance of termination of the services of six women civil judges by the Madhya Pradesh government for their unsatisfactory performance and issued notice to the registrar general of the high court seeking a response.
The court also issued notice to the axed judicial officers, asking them to place on record their contentions.
A bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Sanjay Karol noted in the order that Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud had taken cognisance of the matter which was registered as writ petition.
Advocate Gaurav Agarwal, who has been appointed as amicus curiae to assist the court in the matter, said three of the six former judges who approached the top court last year after their services were terminated, have also moved the Madhya Pradesh High Court against their dismissal and their petition is pending there.
He said the three former judicial officers had filed a writ petition in the apex court last year but later withdrew it.
Justice Karol said since the matter is pending with the high court, the first issue which needs to be decided is whether the apex court should entertain it.
Senior advocate PS Patwalia, appearing for one of the six officers who has filed an impleadment application said since the top court has taken cognisance of the matter, a notice needs to be issued to the registrar general of the high court.
Agrawal submitted when the writ petition before the apex court was withdrawn, the three aggrieved officers were not aware that the court had already taken cognisance of the matter. He said notice should also be issued to them in order to understand their case and bring the material they have on record.
According to the office report of the case uploaded on the apex court website, the application by three former Civil Judges, class-II (Junior Division) from Madhya Pradesh State Judicial Service was addressed to the apex court.
They said the termination happened despite the fact that quantitative assessment of their work could not be done on account of Covid outbreak.
“It is further submitted that the officers along with three other female officers were appointed in Judicial Services in the state of Madhya Pradesh. They are alleged to be terminated from service primarily on account of disposal not being up to the standards set,” the office report said.
The termination orders were passed in June 2023 by the state law department after an administrative committee and a full court meeting found their performance during the probation period unsatisfactory.
According to an impleadment application filed by one of the former judges through advocate Charu Mathur, despite having an unblemished service record of four years and not having suffered any adverse remarks, she was terminated without following the due process of law.
She alleged her termination from service was a violation of her fundamental rights under Articles 14 (right to equality before law) and 21 (right to life and personal liberty) of the Constitution .
She said in her application that if the period of her maternity as well as child care leave is taken into consideration in the quantitative work assessment, it will cause grave injustice to her.
“It is a settled law that maternity and child care leave is a fundamental right of a woman and also the infant, therefore evaluation of the applicant’s performance for the probation period on the basis of the leave taken by her as part of maternity and child care is grossly violative of her fundamental rights,” the application said.
