Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Apr 30: In a significant judgment, Division Bench of State High Court comprising Chief Justice N Paul Vasanthakumar and Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur has set-aside the order of compulsorily retirement of District and Sessions Judge Brij Mohan Gupta.
“There was no allegation of corruption or mis-behaviour of any kind against the petitioner and he served with honesty”, the DB said, adding “the orders impugned retiring the petitioner compulsory cannot be sustained as the same are not in accordance with the judgment of Supreme Court”.
With these observations, the DB set aside the orders and said that the petitioner shall be issued a simple retirement order, retiring him from service with effect from 31.08.2013. It was also made clear that retirement order issued to the petitioner at the age of 58 years shall not be treated as disqualification for any future appointment.
Division Bench directed Registrar General to issue order as per these directions within a period of one week.
Earlier, petitioner prayed for declaring Government Order No.08-LD(A) of 2014 dated 01.01.2014 sanctioning compulsory retirement on the basis of the recommendations made by the High Court in its communication dated 11.06.2013 as illegal and against the provisions of law.
According to the petitioner, he was selected and appointed as officiating Munsiff by order of the Governor dated 26.10.1983 and was posted as Munsiff, Banihal vide High Court Order No.721 dated 27.10.1983. He was promoted as Sub Judge by order dated 23.11.1995 and considering his integrity and performance, he was considered for appointment as District and Sessions Judge and ultimately promoted as District and Sessions Judge by order dated 24.10.2001.
He was confirmed on this post after completing the probation period on 10.06.2003. Thereafter, he was given selection grade in the cadre of District and Sessions Judge with effect from 01.05.2009 by order dated 30.05.2010. Inspection of his court was made for some time and ACR entries were made sometime on the basis of assessment and sometime without any inspection.
On petitioner’s completing 58 years of age, the High Court considered his performance in terms of Article 226(2) of the Jammu & Kashmir Civil Service Regulations and recommended to issue compulsory retirement instead of retiring the petitioner. The grievance of the petitioner was that due to low pendency of cases where he served the disposal was less at the fag-end of his service and that was taken as a ground for not extending his service beyond 58 years.
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