HC orders compulsory retirement of three judges

The three have been asked to retire owing to their adverse annual confidential reports (ACR),in which their integrity was held to be “doubtful”. Of the three,two are women.

The decision has been taken by the Full Court (comprising all high court judges) in a meeting held earlier this week. The court has written to Punjab and Haryana governments,recommending that the three judges be compulsorily retired from service. The states have been asked to take a decision on the recommendations.

It might be clarified here that it was not their recent ACRs that led to this decision. According to revised rules framed by the high court,if any judge of the subordinate judiciary has been given an adverse report (doubtful integrity) at any point of time during his service,he or she will not be retained. The judge will be compulsorily retired either when he attains the age of 50 or if he or she has completed 25 years in service. In the current case,all the three are above 50.

During the Full Court meeting held last week,the service records and ACRs of the three judges were taken up. Significantly,one of the judges had earned good ACRs in the last 10 years. However,she was given an adverse report in 2001. Though she was promoted to the rank of ADJ,the high court decided not to retain her because of the 2001 ACR (doubtful integrity). Similar was the case of the two other judges.

An ACR is written by a high court judge,who is also the administrative judge of a district. “The rules were revised and made stringent to ensure that no judge,who has been given an adverse ACR,is retained in service,” said a senior high court official.

According to sources,a few other judges of subordinate judiciary in Punjab and Haryana also have adverse ACRs of doubtful integrity. However,no decision was taken in the Full Court meeting regarding them,as they have not yet fulfilled the conditions prescribed under the new rules.

Curated For You

Ex-Punjab IPS officer IG Amar Singh Chahal shoots himself after being duped in Rs 8.10 crore cyber fraud

​Goa Zilla Panchayat Election Results 2025 Highlights: BJP-MGP alliance wins 30 seats; CM Pramod Sawant thanks state, party karyakartas

Dhurandhar Box Office Collection Worldwide Day 18 Update: Ranveer Singh-starrer poised to cross Rs 900 cr mark today; RGV decodes film’s success