Jharkhand sacks 3 judges for graft

The Jharkhand High Court (JHC) is in the limelight with the state government notifying the dismissal of three judicial officers of the state today. All three — Additional District Judge (Fast Track Court), Jamshedpur Dinesh Chandra Shukla, Garwha Sub-Judge Ajit Kumar and Dhanbad Judicial Magistrate Ranjit Kumar Srivastava — have been dismissed after a full bench inquiry found evidence of corruption, it is learnt.

Among them, both Shukla and Srivastava were appointed by JHC during 2001-02. Srivastava was still on probation.

According to sources in JHC, Shukla and Srivastava granted bail to the accused who didn’t deserve it as per the law, on consideration of illegal gratification. This is the first time judicial officers have been dismissed for corruption. Earlier, the state government, responding to the recommendations of the JHC’s full court, had come up with orders forcing retirement of 23 judicial officers of subordinate judiciary on charges of corruption.