Delhi court staffer faces 20-day salary cut for ‘misconduct’, retired judge steps in
A Magistrate court, in its order, said the Ahlmad issued wrong summons and non-bailable warrants. The retired judge appeared as her advocate before the Sessions Court, which stayed the order
4 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Sep 30, 2026 03:47 PM IST
Kalpana was assigned to work in the Reader’s place so the entire workload pertaining to 10,000 cases fell on the two Assistant Ahlmads. (AI-generated image/Gemini)
Kalpana, 23, who has been working at Delhi’s Rohini Courts since last December as an Assistant Ahlmad, found herself facing a penalty for alleged misconduct that would cost her 20 days’ salary.
In an order dated September 25, Judicial Magistrate First Class Reetika Jain, in whose court Kalpana is posted, wrote that the Ahlmad had not performed her duties and had issued wrong summons, wrong non-bailable warrants and had created false reports among other lapses.
Then the Ahlmad challenged the order, through a retired judge.
Advocate Manmohan Sharma, a former Principal Judge (Family Court), argued before the Sessions Court that the Magistrate court order was a “gross violation of the principle of natural justice”. Sharma contended that the court staff was not given an opportunity to be heard to comment on the allegations.
On September 26, Officiating Principal District and Sessions Judge (Northwest, Rohini) Mukesh Kumar Gupta stayed the order after hearing detailed arguments from Sharma.
Sharma retired recently and started his law practice a year ago.
The magistrate court order
In her order, Judge Jain had detailed the Ahlmad’s “misconduct”.
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“The misconduct has been shown by the said official with regard to non-performance of her duties including wrong issuance of summons/NBWs… creation of false reports on the judicial record… issuance of processes without any direction in the ordersheets… selective issuance of processes, non issuance of production warrants including in Session triable matters.”
According to the judge, this “non-performance” was seen in over 121 cases. “… multiple times, various matters had to be adjourned, causing inconvenience to the parties concerned… [It] has led to wastage of the court’s time, resources, [and] hampered disposal of matters including oldest 20 matters of this court, in which shortest dates were given, defeating the whole purpose,” the Judge said in her order.
The Magistrate also said the alleged misconduct had disrupted the court’s work. “… it is pertinent to mention that the undersigned is holding an extremely heavy court, having pendency of more than 10,000 pending matters…,” she added.
The Magistrate also said the Ahlmad had not replied to any show cause notices issued to her. “It has been observed that the court staff concerned has made it a habit to disobey the orders of the court and is not mending her ways despite various directions, warnings, and show cause notices… It can be inferred that the non-compliance has been willful and deliberate,” the order concluded.
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It passed a direction that 20 days’ salary of the court staff be attached for her alleged “wilful misconduct”.
What the court staffer argued
In her plea before the Principal District and Sessions Judge, Rohini, Kalpana said that about 20 days after she joined the court, the Reader went on leave for roughly 20 days.
She was assigned to work in the Reader’s place during that period, so the entire workload pertaining to 10,000 cases fell on the two Assistant Ahlmads.
As per official data, out of 8,575 sanctioned posts for court staff, 1,711 posts remain vacant. This nearly 20% vacancy exists alongside a mounting case pendency of close to 17 lakh cases.
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“Since July 2026, the appellant got extensively overburdened with work, which was going out of control… The appellant submitted her replies… After some time, the learned Presiding Officer gave 15-20 show-cause notices per day. It was impossible for the appellant to reply to all of them because she was already overburdened with work,” the plea said.
Advocate Sharma also argued that the compliance report related to the attachment of salary had to be given in seven days and if the order is not stayed, the “very purpose of filing of instant statutory appeal shall be defeated and the appellant shall suffer irreparable loss and injury”.
“Considering the facts and circumstances of the case and the arguments addressed by Ld. counsel, the operation of order dated 25.09.2026 is hereby stayed till the next date of hearing,” Judge Gupta stated.
Nirbhay Thakur is a Senior Correspondent with The Indian Express who primarily covers district courts in Delhi and has reported on the trials of many high-profile cases since 2023.
Professional Background
Education: Nirbhay is an economics graduate from Delhi University.
Beats: His reporting spans the trial courts, and he occasionally interviews ambassadors and has a keen interest in doing data stories.
Specializations: He has a specific interest in data stories related to courts.
Core Strength: Nirbhay is known for tracking long-running legal sagas and providing meticulous updates on high-profile criminal trials.
Recent notable articles
In 2025, he has written long form articles and two investigations. Along with breaking many court stories, he has also done various exclusive stories.
1) A long form on Surender Koli, accused in the Nithari serial killings of 2006. He was acquitted after spending 2 decades in jail. was a branded man. Deemed the “cannibal" who allegedly lured children to his employer’s house in Noida, murdered them, and “ate their flesh” – his actions cited were cited as evidence of human depravity at its worst. However, the SC acquitted him finding various lapses in the investigation. The Indian Express spoke to his lawyers and traced the 2 decades journey.
2) For decades, the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has been at the forefront of the Government’s national rankings, placed at No. 2 over the past two years alone. It has also been the crucible of campus activism, its protests often spilling into national debates, its student leaders going on to become the faces and voices of political parties of all hues and thoughts. The Indian Express looked at all court cases spanning over two decades and did an investigation.
3) Investigation on the 700 Delhi riots cases. The Indian Express found that in 17 of 93 acquittals (which amounted to 85% of the decided cases) in Delhi riots cases, courts red-flag ‘fabricated’ evidence and pulled up the police.
Signature Style
Nirbhay’s writing is characterized by its procedural depth. He excels at summarizing 400-page chargesheets and complex court orders into digestible news for the general public.
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