Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The Supreme Court on Friday set aside the termination of two women judges by Madhya Pradesh High Court and the state government.
A bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and N Kotiswar Singh noted that their termination was illegal and arbitrary as their performances, as per the High Court's report, spoke otherwise. The court proceeded to direct the reinstatement of the terminated judges Aditi Kumar Sharma and Sarita Chaudhary and called for showing sensitivity towards women judicial officers. The top court had taken suo moto cognisance in the matter in January 2024 following the termination of the women judges in the state.
One of the terminated judges had contracted Covid-190 and suffered a miscarriage. The top court was dealing with a suo moto case concerning the termination of six women judges in MP. Four were reinstated in September 2024 after the top court's intervention. The apex court concluded that the adverse comments in their annual confidential report were made without taking these factors into account.
Madhya Pradesh High Court had reconsidered its earlier resolutions on August 1, 2024 and decided to reinstate four judicial officers Jyoti Varkade, Sonakshi Joshi, Priya Sharma and Rachna Atulkar Joshi on certain terms and conditions, leaving out the other two, Aditi Kumar Sharma and Sarita Chaudhary from the exercise.
According to Additional Advocate General Saurav Mishra, judicial officers Aditi Kumar Sharma and Sarita Chaudhary have been reinstated. The SC directed that the two officers be reinstated within 15 days. “In all, six women judges were terminated by HC but later four out of them were reinstated by HC. Two were left out. Today, SC has reinstated them,” Mishra said.
