Case: Registrar General  Vs. Jayshree Chamanlal Buddhbhatti

without there being any requisition from the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate. This Court noted that if such resolutions are passed, it will be difficult for the judicial officers to perform their function in an objective and unbiased manner. This Court was constrained to observe that the High Court had failed to protect the appellant. What had distressed this Court was that the High Court, instead of protecting the appellant had taken into account the unjustified allegation made by the bar, while assessing the work and conduct leading to discontinuation of his probation services. The same appears to be the situation in the present case. 30. Shashikant Patil (supra) was altogether a different case. That was a matter where a full-fledged departmental inquiry was conducted against the respondent. It is true that the inquiry report had exonerated the respondent, and the disciplinary committee had reversed that decision. The High Court on the judicial side had interfered with the decision of the disciplinary committee. It is this decision of the High Court which came to be upturned in this case, and it was in this context that this Court observed: “when such a constitutional function was exercised by the administrative side of the High Court, any judicial review thereon should have been made not only with great care and circumspection, but confining strictly to the parameters set by this Court.” The present case can not be said to be one where the High Court on judicial side has erred as in Shashikant Patil (supra) in exercising its powers as claimed by the appellants. 31. As held by this Court time and again, it is the responsibility of the High Court to protect honest judicial officers. As the facts in this case indicate, apart from the fact that no opportunity was afforded to the respondent, even the material placed on record did not establish any such aspect which would lead to a conclusion of unsuitability. The disposal of the respondent was very good, and the complaints by the subordinate staff were clearly motivated. There was no involvement of the respondent in the suicide by the wife of Shri N.P. Thakker, and all that the High Court administration could lay hand on was the telephonic conversations which the respondent had with Mr. Thakker. The inference of unsuitability drawn by the High Court administration was therefore totally uncalled for. The impugned judgment setting aside the termination order dated 14th December 2007 issued on the ground of unsuitability is, therefore, fully justified. 32. One of the submissions which was advanced on behalf of the appellants was that, in such a situation the High Court, on its judicial side, ought to have given a further opportunity to the High Court administration to conduct a further inquiry against the respondent. In our view, keeping in mind the material on record, such a further exercise was not called for, and in any case certainly no more. The services of the respondent have been terminated way back in 2007. Six long years have gone thereafter, and for no fault of hers, the respondent has suffered. Directing any further inquiry would add salt to the injury. The conclusion arrived at by the High Court administration that the performance of the respondent was not good and satisfactory, and that she was not suitable for the post she was holding was on the face of it for extraneous reasons. Consequently with a view to do complete justice, the Respondent will have to be held as having completed her probation satisfactorily, and that she was entitled to continue in the post that she was holding. 33. We may however, note that in spite of this position, Mr. R.P. Bhatt, learned senior counsel appearing for the respondent has stated that though the decision of the High Court administration has seriously affected her personal life, the respondent is basically interested in vindicating her position. He has, therefore, fairly made a statement, on instructions, that the respondent is confining her prayer for backwages to the period subsequent to her being vindicated by the judgment of the High Court, dated 15.5.2009 pronouncing that the termination of her services was unjustified, and bad in law. 34. Before we conclude, we must once again reflect on the facts that have emerged in the present case. As noted earlier, the respondent was a candidate who had obtained a high rank in the selection for the judicial service, and was given an independent posting in a rural area, where she was living all alone. Her disposal of cases had been very good to say the least. The complaints made by her, regarding the misbehaviour of the staff, and the harassment to her by a section of the bar, were not heeded by the then District Judge, leave aside making an attempt to understand the difficulties faced by her. Instead, certain unjustified adverse remarks were made against her. Subsequently, the then District Judge conducted the preliminary inquiry against her, in his capacity as the vigilance officer, wherein without any justification he tried to connect her with the death of the wife of another judicial officer. It is the duty of the District Judge and also of the High Court to protect the judicial officers against unjustified allegations. However, what we find in the present case is that instead of doing the same, an investigation was conducted against the respondent without affording her any opportunity, though it contained allegations against her character, and the investigation was sought to be justified as determination of her suitability for the post which she was holding. We would like to take this opportunity to emphasise that the High Courts must see to it that the hostile work environment for junior judicial officers, particularly the lady officers, is eliminated. This is necessary to encourage the young officers to put in good judicial work without fear or favour. We are constrained to say that in the present case the High Court administration has clearly failed in this behalf.

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

Explanation:
0[ds]we must once again reflect on the facts that have emerged in the present case. As noted earlier, the respondent was a candidate who had obtained a high rank in the selection for the judicial service, and was given an independent posting in a rural area, where she was living all alone. Her disposal of cases had been very good to say the least. The complaints made by her, regarding the misbehaviour of the staff, and the harassment to her by a section of the bar, were not heeded by the then District Judge, leave aside making an attempt to understand the difficulties faced by her. Instead, certain unjustified adverse remarks were made against her. Subsequently, the then District Judge conducted the preliminary inquiry against her, in his capacity as the vigilance officer, wherein without any justification he tried to connect her with the death of the wife of another judicial officer. It is the duty of the District Judge and also of the High Court to protect the judicial officers against unjustified allegations. However, what we find in the present case is that instead of doing the same, an investigation was conducted against the respondent without affording her any opportunity, though it contained allegations against her character, and the investigation was sought to be justified as determination of her suitability for the post which she was holding. We would like to take this opportunity to emphasise that the High Courts must see to it that the hostile work environment for junior judicial officers, particularly the lady officers, is eliminated. This is necessary to encourage the young officers to put in good judicial work without fear or favour. We are constrained to say that in the present case the High Court administration has clearly failed in this behalf.