Only chief justice can take disciplinary action against court staff, says HC

Stating that only the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court had the authority to take disciplinary action against court staffers, a full bench headed by the Chief Justice recalled an order of a division bench that had initiated disciplinary action against the registry for “utter negligence, indiscipline, insubordination and misconduct”.

“The learned judge who passed the order did not have the power to do so,” said the bench comprising Chief Justice Mohit Shah, Justice P V Hardas and Justice V K Tahilramani. “It becomes clear that as per certain legal positions and constitution schemes, the learned judges in the present cases could not have issued warnings to the registrar, including notings in their confidential report.

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This is not to say that the absence of diligence or lapse on the part of staff members should be overlooked. The question is about the competence of the judge to initiate action,” the HC said.