SC Directs Madhya Pradesh HC to Reconsider Termination of 6 Women Judicial Officers

The Supreme Court has directed the Madhya Pradesh High Court to make a decision within three weeks on whether it can reconsider its choice to terminate the services of six women judicial officers due to their unsatisfactory performance.

A bench comprising Justices BV Nagarathna and Sanjay Karol was hearing a suo motu (on its own) petition initiated after three of the six former judicial officers approached the top court against the termination of their services. The bench clarified that it was not issuing any written order at present but instructed the counsel for the Madhya Pradesh High Court to convey the court’s viewpoint to the HC and seek appropriate instructions.

Justice Karol conveyed to the counsel, “You see, institutions do not have egos, only status. Convey our intentions to the high court.” Justice Nagarathna added that if the high court revisits its decision, then the apex court will refrain from issuing any orders in the matter.

Senior advocate Gaurav Agarwal, appointed as an amicus curiae to assist the court, stated that no adverse remarks had been made about the performance of these former judicial officers by the administrative committee of the high court.

The bench asserted that it was refraining from making any statements presently and was only instructing the counsel to communicate its perspective to the high court regarding reconsidering the termination.

On January 12, the top court had taken notice of the termination of the services of the six women civil judges and issued notice to the registrar general of the high court for a response. The court had also served notice to the dismissed judicial officers, instructing them to present their contentions.

Agarwal mentioned that three of the six former judicial officers who approached the top court last year had also filed petitions in the high court against their dismissal, and their petition is still pending there. He informed the apex court that the plea filed in the top court was later withdrawn.

As per the January 11 office report of the case available 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. The three former judges had pointed out that the termination occurred despite the fact that quantitative assessment of their work could not be done due to the Covid outbreak.

The termination orders were issued in June 2023 by the state law department after an administrative committee of the high court and a full court meeting found their performance during the probation period unsatisfactory.

In an impleadment application filed by one of the former judges through advocate Charu Mathur, it was claimed that despite having an unblemished service record of four years and not receiving any adverse remarks, she was terminated without following due process. She alleged that her termination was a violation of her fundamental rights under Articles 14 (right to equality before the law) and 21 (right to life and personal liberty) of the Constitution. The application argued that evaluating her performance during the probation period based on maternity and child care leave was grossly violative of her fundamental rights, considering these leaves as a fundamental right for women and infants.