New Delhi, Feb, 28
The Supreme Court on Friday ordered reinstatement of two women judicial officers terminated from service in June 2023 on account of adverse reports by the Madhya Pradesh High Court.
Terming the action as “punitive, arbitrary and illegal”, a Bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and N Kotiswar Singh set aside the termination orders and directed that the two women officers be reinstated in service within 15 days.
“They (the women judges) are eligible to rejoin and date of probation shall be when their juniors were confirmed. Monetary benefits of the said period shall be calculated notionally for the purpose of pensionary benefits, etc., and they need to be taken back to service within 15 days in terms of seniority,” said the Bench which had in January 2024 taken suo motu cognisance of dismissal of six women civil judges in Madhya Pradesh in June 2023.
The judges were terminated after an administrative committee and a full court meeting of the MP High Court found their performance during the probation period unsatisfactory.
While four of them were reinstated in September 2024, Aditi Kumar Sharma and Sarita Chaudhary—who joined the Madhya Pradesh Judicial Services in 2018 and 2017 respectively— were not reinstated.
On Friday, while ordering their reinstatement, the Bench noted that one of the judges had got married, contracted COVID-19, had a miscarriage, and her brother was diagnosed with cancer during the period of assessment.
Justice Nagarathna had earlier said during the hearing that, “I wish men had menstruation, then only they would understand…It is easy to say case dismissed and go home. If we are hearing this matter at length, can lawyers say we are slow? Particularly women, if they are suffering physically and mentally; do not say they are slow and terminate them.”
The top court emphasised the need to create a conducive environment for women judges in India.
“Greater representation of women in judiciary will increase the quality of justice being rendered and it also promotes gender equality in broader ways. Then freedom from discrimination for women during pregnancy is a precious right. When there is birth, there is sense of fulfilment, whereas miscarriage has serious effect on mental health of women…even leads to suicide and recurring miscarriages have severe effects on health…It is not enough to find comfort in growing number of women judicial officers unless we secure a comfortable atmosphere for them to work in,” it said.
Disapproving of the manner in which they were singled out for termination, the top court said, “We empathise with them, they lost money, finances and gave them anxiety. You must talk to women judicial officers. They take medicines to kill pain on certain days of the month so that they can sit morning till night in court. You must show sensitivity.
“The High Court report does not show consistent poor performance of judges and it speaks otherwise. There are inherent contradictions in the ACRs…We have held that opportunity had to be given before termination. Thus, termination is punitive, arbitrary and illegal,” the top court said.
“Even on perusal of report given by the High Court in a sealed cover, it does not persuade us to take a different view. We hold that the termination was in the form of punishment. The termination was stigmatic in nature. These could not have been the basis of the impugned termination. Thus orders of full court, administrative report and the government order are set aside,” it said.
