Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday set aside the dismissal of a Madhya Pradesh judicial officer, holding that disciplinary proceedings could not be initiated against members of the district judiciary merely for passing allegedly incorrect or erroneous judicial orders.
Judicial officer Nirbhay Singh Suliya was accused of adopting different yardsticks in granting bail to accused under the Excise Act and indulging in corrupt practices.
A Bench of justices JB Pardiwala and KV Vishwanathan allowed the appeal filed by Nirbhay Singh Suliya, who was removed from service in 2014 while serving as an additional district and sessions judge, on allegations of corruption and adopting “double standards” in deciding bail applications under the Excise Act.
The action followed a departmental inquiry initiated by the high court after allegations that he had adopted double standards while deciding bail applications in cases registered under Section 34(2) of the Madhya Pradesh Excise Act. It was alleged that he granted bail in certain cases involving seizure of more than 50 bulk litres of liquor, while rejecting bail in several other similar cases on the ground that bail could not be granted as the seized quantity was more than 50 bulk litres.
Advocate Dhruv Verma, who represented the appellant, informed the Free Press, “The SC, however, found that the judicial officer was terminated without following the due process after serving the judiciary for 27 years with an ‘unblemished’ career record.
The apex court emphasised that caution must be exercised by the HC in initiating disciplinary proceedings against judicial officers just because of their conflicting judicial orders. It should be ensured that judicial officers were not put through the ordeal of such proceedings only because an order was wrong or there was an error of judgement without anything more.
