Top Court Deletes Observation Against Allahabad High Court After Chief Justice BR Gavai's Intervention

The Supreme Court on Friday deleted its observations criticising Allahabad High Court judge Prashant Kumar for allowing criminal proceedings in a civil dispute case, making it clear that its intention was not to embarrass or cast aspersions on him.

On August 4, A bench of Justice J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan observed it was expected of the high court to know the well-settled position of law that in cases of civil disputes, a complainant cannot be permitted to resort to criminal proceedings as the same would amount to abuse of process of the law.

"We request the Chief Justice of the High Court of Allahabad to assign this matter to any other Judge of the High Court as he may deem fit. The Chief Justice of High Court shall immediately withdraw the present criminal determination from the concerned Judge. The Chief Justice shall make the concerned judge sit in a Division Bench with a seasoned senior judge of the High Court (sic)," the top court order said.

The bench on Friday said the observations were meant to ensure the dignity of the judiciary was maintained.

"We reiterate, whatever we said in our order was to ensure that the dignity and the authority of the judiciary as a whole is maintained high in the minds of the people of this country. It is not just a matter of error or mistake by the judge concerned in appreciating the legal points or facts. We were concerned about the appropriate direction to be issued in the interest of justice and to protect the honour and dignity of the institution," the bench said.

The bench clarified it was not its intention to cause embarrassment or cast aspersions on the judge concerned.

"We would not even think of doing so. However, when the matters cross a threshold and the dignity of the institution is imperilled, it becomes the constitutional responsibility of this court to intervene even when acting under its appellate jurisdiction under Article 136 of the Constitution," the top court said.

The bench explained it was deleting the observations after a request was made by Chief Justice B R Gavai to reconsider the matter.

"We have received an undated letter from the Chief Justice of India requesting the reconsideration of the observations... In such circumstances, we directed the Registry to re-notify the main matter for considering the request made by the Chief Justice of India," the bench said.

The top court further noted that high courts were not "separate islands" that could be disassociated from this institution.

Acknowledging that the high court chief justice was the master of the roster, the top court left it to him to take the call in the matter.

"We fully acknowledge that the Chief Justice of a High Court is the master of the roster. The directions are absolutely not interfering with the administrative power of the Chief Justice of the High Court. When matters raise institutional concerns affecting the rule of law, this court may be compelled to step in and take corrective steps," the order added.

The top court further hoped not to come across such "perverse and unjust" orders from any high court.

"The endeavour of the high court should always be to uphold the rule of law and to maintain institutional credibility. If the rule of law is not maintained or protected within the court itself, then that would be the end of the entire justice system of the country," the bench said.

The order underlined the responsibilities of judges who were expected to work "efficiently, discharge their duties diligently and always try and endeavour to fulfil their constitutional oath".

On August 4, the same top court bench stripped criminal matters of the roster of the Allahabad High Court judge till he demitted office after observing he "erroneously" upheld a summons of criminal nature in a civil dispute.

A group of judges of the Allahabad High Court wrote to Chief Justice Arun Bhansali, urging him to convene a full court meeting in response to the Supreme Court's unprecedented order.

The letter was written by Justice Arindam Sinha, and seven judges signed the letter.

In its order, the top court made strong observations against Justice Kumar's judicial reasoning and further directed the high court administration to remove him from the criminal roster.

It further directed for him to be assigned a division bench alongside a senior judge until his retirement.

The high court judge had refused to quash a magistrate's summoning order against a company which was accused of not paying the balance monetary sum in a business transaction of a civil nature.

He said asking the complainant to pursue a civil remedy for recovering the amount was unreasonable, being time-intensive.

Calling the high court judge's order "erroneous", the top court, which was hearing a challenge against it, said the judge went ahead to the extent of saying the complainant should be permitted to institute criminal proceedings for the purpose of recovery of the balance amount.

The top court said the high court order was one of the "worst and most erroneous" orders that it came across in their respective tenures as judges of the top court.

The high court had dismissed an application filed by one M/S Shikhar Chemicals seeking to quash the summoning order in a case of a commercial transaction.

In this case, the complainant (Lalita Textiles) delivered goods in the form of threads to Shikhar Chemicals worth Rs 52.34 lakh, of which an amount of Rs 47.75 lakh came to be paid, however, the balance amount has not been paid to date.

Lalita Textiles filed a criminal complaint for the recovery of the balance amount.

Thereafter, the complainant's statement was recorded, and a magisterial court issued a summons against the applicant.

The company moved the high court against the order, contending the dispute was purely civil in nature.

The high court, however, rejected the plea.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)