The Allahabad High Court on Monday affirmed the premature compulsory retirement of a lower court judge, noting that there had been several complaints of corruption and dishonesty against him between 2009 and 2019. A bench of Justice Rajan Roy and Justice Subhash Vidyarthi of the Lucknow bench of the high court passed the order on a writ petition filed by judge Shobh Nath Singh.
Through the petition, the judge challenged the November 26, 2021 recommendation of the high court’s administrative committee, whereby it had recommended his premature compulsory retirement, and the November 29, 2021 order of the state government by which he was compulsorily retired from service.
Dismissing the plea, the bench observed, “Compulsory retirement is not a punishment and an employee is retired compulsorily only when no case for his punishment is made out, but when keeping in view his overall performance, it is found that he is not suitable for being continued in service, though he is not guilty of any misconduct calling for his punishment.”
The petitioner was appointed as an Additional Munsif in the Uttar Pradesh Judicial Services in 2003. He was promoted as Civil Judge (Senior Division) in 2008.
Two departmental inquiries were conducted against him for serious charges of doubtful integrity and misconduct but he was exonerated. He had got several bad entries in his Annual Confidential Report (ACR).
Considering the overall service career of the judge, the high court’s administrative committee had on November 26, 2021 recommended his premature compulsory retirement from judicial service, alleging that the petitioner “did not enjoy a good reputation” and he was “troublesome” in the judicial administration.
