Case: R.C. Chandel Vs. High Court Of M.P.

review petition filed by him before the Chief Justice after his representations for expunction of adverse remarks for the period ending on 31.03.1993 and 31.03.1994 had been thrice earlier rejected. The appellant approached Shri R. K. Malaviya, Member of Parliament and Chairman, House Committee (Rajya Sabha) for his grievance concerning rejection of his representations for expunction of remarks for 1993 and 1994. Though the appellant has denied that he ever approached Shri R.K. Malaviya but to falsify his claim, the learned senior counsel for the respondent no. 1 placed before us xerox copy of the letter dated 14.02.1996 written by Shri R.K. Malaviya to Shri H.R. Bhardwaj, Minister of State for Law, Justice and Company Affairs, Government of India, New Delhi and the copy of the letter dated 08.03.1996 sent by the Ministry of Law, Justice and Company Affairs (Department of Justice), Government of India addressed to the Chief Secretary to the Government of Madhya Pradesh, Bhopal and the Registrar, High Court. The letter dated 14.02.1996 addressed by Shri R.K. Malaviya to Shri H.R. Bhardwaj, the then Minister of State for Law, Justice and Company Affairs reads as follows : “R.K. MalaviyaOff. : 66, PARLIAMENTMEMBER OFHOUSE NEW DELHI –PARLIAMENT110001.CHAIRMANTEL.: 3017048, 3034699HOUSEï¿½COMMITTEERES.: 30, CANNING(RAJYA SABHA)LANE KASTURBAï¿½GANDHI MARGï¿½NEW DELHI -110001ï¿½TEL. : 3782895ï¿½RES. : 19, TILAKï¿½NAGAR, MAIN ROADï¿½INDORE (M.P.)ï¿½TEL. : 492412, 492588,ï¿½495054ï¿½14 February 1996Dear Shri Bhardwaj JiEnclosed is a representation of Shri R.C. Chandel, District & Sessions Judge, Rewa [MP], which is self-explanatory.I shall be grateful if you kindly get it examined and do the needful.Yours sincerely,[R.K. MALVIYA]Shri H.R. Bhardwaj,Minister of State for Law, Justice &Company Affairs, Government of India,NEW DELHI.” 39. The forwarding letter sent by the Government of India, Ministry of Law, Justice and Company Affairs (Department of Justice) dated 8.3.1996 reads as follows : “No. L-19015/3/96-JusGovernment of IndiaMinistry of Law, Justice and C.A.(Department of Justice)Jaisalmer House, Mansingh RoadNew Delhi, the 8/3/96.1) The Chief Secretary to the Government of Madhya Pradesh, BHOPAL.ï¿½2) The Registrar, Madhya Pradesh High Court, JABALPUR.ï¿½Subject : Reference from Sh. R.K. Malaviya, Member of Parliament and Chairman, House Committee, Rajya Sabha on representation of Sh. R.C. Chandel District and Sessions Judge, Rewa (M.P.)Sir,I am directed to forward herewith a copy of letter dated 14.2.1996 alongwith its enclosure, received from Shri R.K. Malaviya, Member of Parliament and Chairman House Committee, Rajya Saba on the above subject for taking such action as may be considered appropriate.Yours faithfully,(P.N. SINGH)Under Secretary to the Government of India” 40. The conduct of the appellant in involving an M.P. and the Ministry of Law, Justice and Company Affairs, in a matter of the High Court concerning an administrative review petition filed by him for expunging adverse remarks in ACRs of 1993 and 1994 is most reprehensible and highly unbecoming of a judicial officer. His conduct has tarnished the image of the judiciary and he disentitled himself from continuation in judicial service on that count alone. A Judge is expected not to be influenced by any external pressure and he is also supposed not to exert any influence on others in any administrative or judicial matter. Secondly and still worst, the appellant had an audacity to set up a plea in the rejoinder that he never made any representation to Shri R.K. Malaviya, M.P. for any purpose whatsoever. But for the appellant’s approaching Shri R.K. Malaviya and his request for help, Shri R.K. Malaviya would have never written the letter quoted above to the then Minister of State for Law, Justice and Company Affairs. On this ground also his writ petition was liable to be dismissed.41. The learned Single Judge examined the administrative decision of the Full Court to recommend to the Government to compulsory retire the appellant as if he was sitting as an appellate authority to consider the correctness of such recommendation by going into sufficiency and adequacy of the materials which led the Full Court in reaching its satisfaction. The whole approach of the Single Judge in consideration of the matter was flawed and not legally proper. The learned Single Judge proceeded to examine the materials by observing, “The entire record pertaining to complaints against the petitioner has also been produced before me during the course of argument by learned senior counsel for respondent no. 1. Thus, I am dealing each and every complaint one by one”. We are afraid, the learned Single Judge did not keep the scope of judicial review in view while examining the validity of the order of compulsory retirement. The Division Bench of the High Court in the intra-court appeal was, thus, fully justified in setting aside the impugned order. 42. Learned senior counsel for the appellant placed heavy reliance on a decision of this Court in Nand Kumar Verma1. Having carefully considered Nand Kumar Verma1, we find that the decision of this Court in Nand Kumar Verma1 has no application on the facts of the present case. This is clear from para 36 (Pg. 591) of the Report which reads as follows: “36. The material on which the decision of the compulsory retirement was based, as extracted by the High Court in the impugned judgment, and material furnished by the appellant would reflect that totality of relevant materials were not considered or completely ignored by the High Court. This leads to only one conclusion that the subjective satisfaction of the High Court was not based on the sufficient or relevant material. In this view of the matter, we cannot say that the service record of the appellant was unsatisfactory which would warrant premature retirement from service. Therefore, there was no justification to retire the appellant compulsorily from service.” Nand Kumar Verma1 , thus, turned on its own facts. 43. In view of the above, we are satisfied that the recommendation made by the High Court to the Government for compulsory retirement of the appellant and the order of compulsory retirement issued by the Government do not suffer from any legal flaw. The order of compulsory retirement is neither arbitrary nor irrational justifying any interference in judicial review.

Decision (1 = appeal accepted, 0 = rejected): 0

Explanation:
0[ds]40. The conduct of the appellant in involving an M.P. and the Ministry of Law, Justice and Company Affairs, in a matter of the High Court concerning an administrative review petition filed by him for expunging adverse remarks in ACRs of 1993 and 1994 is most reprehensible and highly unbecoming of a judicial officer. His conduct has tarnished the image of the judiciary and he disentitled himself from continuation in judicial service on that count alone. A Judge is expected not to be influenced by any external pressure and he is also supposed not to exert any influence on others in any administrative or judicial matter. Secondly and still worst, the appellant had an audacity to set up a plea in the rejoinder that he never made any representation to Shri R.K. Malaviya, M.P. for any purpose whatsoever. But for theapproaching Shri R.K. Malaviya and his request for help, Shri R.K. Malaviya would have never written the letter quoted above to the then Minister of State for Law, Justice and Company Affairs. On this ground also his writ petition was liable to be dismissed.41. The learned Single Judge examined the administrative decision of the Full Court to recommend to the Government to compulsory retire the appellant as if he was sitting as an appellate authority to consider the correctness of such recommendation by going into sufficiency and adequacy of the materials which led the Full Court in reaching its satisfaction. The whole approach of the Single Judge in consideration of the matter was flawed and not legally proper. The learned Single Judge proceeded to examine the materials by observing,entire record pertaining to complaints against the petitioner has also been produced before me during the course of argument by learned senior counsel for respondent no. 1. Thus, I am dealing each and every complaint one byWe are afraid, the learned Single Judge did not keep the scope of judicial review in view while examining the validity of the order of compulsory retirement. The Division Bench of the High Court in the intra-court appeal was, thus, fully justified in setting aside the impugned order.In view of the above, we are satisfied that the recommendation made by the High Court to the Government for compulsory retirement of the appellant and the order of compulsory retirement issued by the Government do not suffer from any legal flaw. The order of compulsory retirement is neither arbitrary nor irrational justifying any interference in judicial review.