HC denies relief to judicial officer dismissed for immoral conduct,absence without leave

But Singh had challenging the order and the report of inquiry as being biased and lacking credence.

In a 23-page order,a division bench comprising Chief Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice Deepak Gupta said the officer doesn’t deserve any merit to be granted relief. The bench instead decided to impose an exemplary cost of Rs 25,000 on him. “Though for different and additional reasons also,we don’t thus find any merit in the appeal,which is accordingly dismissed with cost of Rs 25,000,” the court ordered.

It said,“The Judicial Officer has acted against his conscience,which shocks the judicial conscience. There is betrayal of the judicial conscience. The keeper has become the poacher. He has corrupted the system and the society by polluting also the minds of the duty holders like advocates,witnesses and the litigant public,in his attempt to concoct the evidence to establish that he was in India only while actually,factually and admittedly he was in Thailand.”

“Integrity is the hallmark of judicial discipline,apart from others. It is high time the judiciary took utmost care to see that the temple of justice does not crack from inside,which will lead to a catastrophe in the judicial-delivery system. It must be remembered that woodpeckers inside pose a larger threat than the storm outside,” the two top judges wrote.

The court said it has been fully established that KP Singh during his post at Dalhousie and Jawali between 1996 and 2002 developed illicit relations with a woman lawyer Deepa Singh,who was also practicing as an advocate at Dalhousie.

Further,he travelled in her company to Thailand between December 10 and 22,2002. He did not obtain any permission from the competent authority and remained wilfully absent during the period. On return,he applied for leave on the false pretext of his being sick,whereas he had actually gone to Thailand during this period.

Next,on coming to know that an inquiry was being contemplated against him by the High Court for having gone to Thailand without obtaining permission,he lodged a false report with the police about having lost his passport.

After he was removed from the service on the basis of inquiry and the same was also accepted by the High Court and the state government,Singh filed an appeal before a single bench of the High Court alleging bias and illegalities in the order. The same was rejected by the bench,but he filed a fresh appeal before the division bench.