Ghost writers are common in the literary world, but this probably is the first case in the judiciary. A Jharkhand trial court judge has been shown the door for outsourcing writing of judgments.
The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the Jharkhand governor’s July 31, 2003, order removing Ajit Kumar, a subordinate judge in Garhwa. It quashed Kumar’s plea that he was dismissed from service without the mandatory inquiry into his alleged misconduct. A bench comprising Justices Mukundakam Sharma and Anil R Dave said in cases where the removing authority had recorded the reason in writing for dispensing with the requirement of inquiry before ordering dismissal of a public servant, the order could not be faulted.
The inspecting judge from the Jharkhand HC while on a supervision tour to Garhwa court on May 5, 2003, found Kumar’s judgments unusual. He started looking into official records and gave a report to the Chief Justice of the HC saying, “Kumar did not prepare judgments on his own, rather he used to get them prepared through somebody else before delivering the judgments.”
Alarmed by the level of misconduct, CJ of the HC referred the matter to the full court for consideration of the inspecting judge’s report and recommended appropriate action. On June 18, 2003, the full court resolved that Kumar can be recommended for removal from the service, without any inquiry as it was felt that it was not practicable in the interest of the institution to hold an inquiry since it may lead to the question of validity of several judgments rendered by him. The SC found this reason sufficient for dispensing with the inquiry.
Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/SC-dismisses-judge-for-outsourcing-his-verdicts/articleshow/7676484.cms
