S.KRISHNAKUMAR Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) "If in every case where an order of a subordinate court is found to be faulty a disciplinary action were to be initiated, the confidence of the subordinate judiciary will be shaken and the officers will be in constant fear of writing a judgment so as not to face a disciplinary enquiry and thus judicial officers cannot act independently or fearlessly. " Ishwar Chand Jain v. High Court of Punjab and Haryana and another - [(1988) 3 SCC 370]

(2.) The appellant states that he was posted as the Principal District and Sessions Judge at Kozhikode with effect from 1/6/2022 and that, contrary to clause 3 and 4 of the extant transfer norms, that stipulated that a judicial officer would not ordinarily be transferred from a station before he completed three years therein unless such transfer was warranted in the exigencies of service, he was transferred out of his present station to Kollam. It is his case that his transfer, although disguised as a routine transfer, was in fact a punitive transfer in that it was seen necessitated on account of certain observations he had made in an order granting bail to a person accused of committing offences under Ss. 354A(2), 341 and 354 of the Indian Penal Code. The observations were perceived as derogatory to women in general, and the victim in particular, and were met with severe criticism in the print, visual and social media and the transfer order is stated to have been issued as a response to such public criticism.

(3.) Per contra, the counter affidavit filed on behalf of the High Court on its administrative side states that the transfer was one that was necessitated in the exigencies of service and that in ordering so there was no violation of the extant transfer norms. It is pointed out that it was usual for District Judges to be posted as Presiding Officers of the Labour Courts in the State since they all formed part of the same cadre of posts in the Higher Judicial Service in the State. Referring to the orders passed by the appellant in certain bail applications, it is stated that the said orders point to the cussedness of the approach of the appellant and portrayed the entire judiciary in a poor light among the general public, and also had the propensity to erode public confidence in the institution.