The Supreme Court on Tuesday criticised the Madhya Pradesh High Court for the termination of women civil judges, highlighting the lack of understanding of the physical and mental challenges they faced. A bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and N Kotiswar Singh condemned the approach, stating that the case disposal rate should not be used as a measure when the judges were suffering.
“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? Particularly for women, if they are suffering physically and mentally, do not say they are slow and send them home. Let there be same criteria for male judges and judicial officers, we will see then, and we know what happens. How can you have target units (of case disposal) for district judiciary?” Justice Nagarathna remarked.
“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? Particularly for women, if they are suffering physically and mentally, do not say they are slow and send them home. Let there be same criteria for male judges and judicial officers, we will see then, and we know what happens. How can you have target units (of case disposal) for district judiciary?” Justice Nagarathna remarked.
The matter, which has been under the Supreme Court’s scrutiny since January, will be revisited on December 12. The top court had taken suo motu cognizance of the June 2023 dismissals of six judges after the Madhya Pradesh government issued termination orders based on unsatisfactory performance during their probation period.
The Supreme Court had previously urged the Madhya Pradesh High Court to reconsider the decisions and re-examine the representations of the affected judges. Senior Advocate Gaurav Agrawal is the Amicus Curiae in the matter, with Senior Advocates Indira Jaising and R Basant representing the judges.
