Prerna Gala
Published on: 12 September 2022 at 17:31 IST
The Supreme Court has seen a new mode of craze among litigants to make accusations against judges when unfavourable orders are passed.
The practise was condemned by a bench of Justices MR Shah and Krishna Murari, who noted that it demoralises judicial employees when claims are made that their decisions were affected by unrelated factors.
“Nowadays, there is a tendency to make such allegations against judicial officers whenever orders are passed against a litigant and the orders are not liked by the concerned litigant. We deprecate such a practice.”
“If such a practise is continued, it will ultimately demoralise the judicial officer. In fact, such an allegation can be said to be obstructing the administration of justice,” the Court said.
The Supreme Court was hearing a transfer petition in which it was requested that the District and Session Judge in Dhaulpur, Rajasthan, move the execution petition proceedings to Noida, Uttar Pradesh.
The petitioners’ attorney claimed that because the respondents are “local bigwigs” who are influencing the proceedings, the petitioners were not receiving a fair trial.
The Bench declared at the outset that it was not persuaded by the defence.
“We deprecate such a stand and the ground on which the proceedings are sought to be transferred. Merely because some orders are passed on the judicial side (in the present case in the execution proceedings) which may be against the petitioners, it cannot be said that the court which passed the order was influenced.”
“If the petitioners are aggrieved by any judicial order, the proper remedy would be to challenge the same before a higher forum,” the Court said.
Regarding the petitioners’ other concern that their lives are in danger due to an allegedly fraudulent criminal accusation made against them, the Court noted, “… if the petitioners are aggrieved by the FIR, the remedy would have been to approach the quashing of the same.”
The Bench noted in rejecting the argument that a closure report submitted in connection with the aforementioned complaint is likewise not a reason to transfer the proceedings.
The Allahabad High Court has noted that there is a propensity among the general population to demonize judges by complaining about them and making unfounded claims.