The Supreme Court rapped the Madhya Pradesh High Court for terminating the services of women civil judges in the state and declining to reinstate them. “I wish men had menstruation, then only they would understand,” Justice BV Nagarathna remarked while hearing the case. The two judge bench comprising him and Justice N Kotiswar Singh said that disposal rate of cases cannot be a yardstick when judges were suffering mentally and physically.
The top court in January had taken suo motu cognisance of the termination of six judges by the Madhya Pradesh government in 2023.
What was the matter?
The bench was hearing the judge Aditi Sharma’s case on Tuesday. It referred to the report that was given regarding her work since her appointment in 2019. The bench found that during four years of her service she was always rated as a judicial officer with good work capacity and delivered her judgements and orders dutifully.
The bench was told that Sharma had suffered a miscarriage and also tested Covid positive. Her brother too was diagnosed with cancer during her service. The bench said that the judge was not granted an opportunity to improve, even though she had the capability to do so. “It is very easy to say ‘dismissed-dismissed’ and go home. Even we are hearing this matter at length; can lawyers say ‘we are slow’,” Justice Nagarathna said.
When were termination orders passed?
The judges were sacked by the law department after their performances were found unsatisfactory during the probation period by the administrative committee and following a full-court meeting of High Court judges. The bench in July, 2024 had asked the Madhya Pradesh HC to rethink its decision of terminating the employment of the judges, within a month, upon representations of the affected judge.
The next hearing of the matter was scheduled for December 12.
