No Disciplinary Proceeding will be initiated because of wrong orders given by Judicial Officer.

Rohit Pradhan | 4^th October 2019

Krishna Prasad Verma v. State of Bihar, Civil Appeal No. 8950 of 2011

Merely because wrong order was passed, disciplinary proceeding should not be initiated against the Judicial Officers.

Court Observed that, unless it is proved that such order was passed for extraneous reasons, no disciplinary action will be taken.

Judge ‘Krishna Prasad Verma’ didn’t take High Court’s order where, High Court had rejected the bail application of one of the accused.

“The officer may have been guilty of negligence in the sense that he did not carefully go through the case file and did not take notice of the order of the High Court which was on his file. This negligence cannot be treated to be misconduct. It would be pertinent to mention that the enquiry officer has not found that there was any extraneous reason for granting bail. The enquiry officer virtually sat as a court of appeal picking holes in the order granting bail.”

18 adjournments were made for the production of 10 witnesses.

No disciplinary proceeding should be initiated merely because of incorrect orders.

“Such a judicial officer is between the devil and the deep sea. If he keeps on granting adjournments then the High Court will take action against him on the ground that he does not dispose of his cases efficiently and if he closes the evidence then the High Court will take action on the ground that he has let the accused go scot-free. That is not the purpose of Article 235 of the Constitution of India. That is why we again repeat that one of the responsibilities of the High Court on the administrative side is to ensure that the independence of the District judiciary is maintained and the High Court acts as a guardian and protector of the District judiciary.”