HC: Axe judge who acquitted man in 3 cases sans judgment

BHOPAL/JABALPUR: Madhya Pradesh HC has upheld the dismissal of a civil judge who acquitted the accused in three cases without writing an order. He also adjourned proceedings in two cases without passing an order.

Hearing a petition filed by the accused judge, Mahendra Singh Taram , the bench comprising Chief Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Vinay Jain held him guilty of "grave professional misconduct" and said his dismissal from service was appropriate.

Taram's petition said he had joined as a trainee civil judge class-II at Narsinghpur in July 2003. After training, he was posted at Naugaon in Chhatarpur district and then at Nivas in Mandla district. On HC's recommendation, he was dismissed from service in 2014. He presented a rejoinder against the dismissal order, but it was rejected, after which he filed a writ petition.

Taram pleaded that in addition to work pressure, he was passing through personal problems, and because of his situation, he might have committed some mistakes in discharging his duties. Taram's petition argued that while another civil judge had been let off for similar mistakes with only two annual increments withheld, he had been dismissed from the job.

The division bench went through the judge's records and saw that a vigilance team of MP HC, during an inspection in 2012, had found that Taram had acquitted the accused in three criminal cases without writing a final judgment and adjourned proceedings in two cases without writing an order. Following this, he was issued a show-cause notice and a departmental enquiry (DE) was conducted against him.

The enquiry officer found him guilty on all five points included as terms of reference in the DE. It was then that MP HC recommended his dismissal from service. HC held him guilty of grave professional misconduct and dismissed his petition, upholding the termination of service.