Allahabad High Court Judge Taken Off Criminal Cases, Then An Explosive Letter By Colleagues

An order by the Supreme Court banning an Allahabad High Court judge from hearing criminal cases has snowballed into a major face-off in the higher judiciary. At least 13 high court judges have written to Chief Justice Arun Bhansali urging him to defy the top court order and convene a full court meeting.

The top court had earlier this week barred Justice Prashant Kumar from adjudicating on any criminal case until his retirement, taking a stern view of the orders passed by him.

The August 4 order was "made without direction for issuance of notice and contains scathing remarks on apparently baseless findings against the learned judge," High Court judge Justice Arindam Sinha wrote in his letter to the Chief Justice.

The letter, which has 12 other judges' signatures, sought a full court meeting to resolve that the high court will not comply with the August 4 order since the Supreme Court "does not have administration superintendence over High Courts" and record its anguish over the "tone and tenor" of the order.

The Supreme Court has re-listed the matter for hearing today.

The case pertains to a company being accused of not paying the balance sum in a business transaction of a civil nature.

A bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan had said in their order that Justice Kumar's decision to uphold criminal summons in the civil dispute was one of the "worst and most erroneous" orders they had come across during their tenure as judges.

It then ordered the judge's roster to be cleared of criminal cases until retirement and directed him to be part of a division bench alongside a senior judge.

"The judge concerned has not only cut a sorry figure for himself but has made a mockery of justice. We are at our wits' end to understand what is wrong with the Indian Judiciary at the level of High Court. At times we are left wondering whether such orders are passed on some extraneous considerations or it is sheer ignorance of law. Whatever it be, passing of such absurd and erroneous orders is something unpardonable," the top court had said.

The top court remark followed M/S Shikhar Chemicals' petition challenging the high court's refusal to quash the summons ordered against the company. Lalita Textiles, the complainant in the case, had alleged that it had supplied threads worth Rs 52.34 lakh of which Rs 47.75 lakh was paid, while the remaining was left unpaid.

A magisterial court had issued the summons against the petitioner after Lalita Textiles filed a criminal complaint seeking recovery of the unpaid amount. The petitioner had moved the high court claiming that it was a civil matter, but its petition was rejected.

The order was then challenged in the Supreme Court.