The Supreme Court of India Friday deleted its observations criticising an Allahabad High Court judge and barring him from hearing criminal matters till his retirement, saying that it wasn’t the top court’s intention to embarrass the HC judge.
A bench of Justice J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan reiterated that the observations made were to ensure that the dignity of the judiciary is maintained.
The apex court also acknowledged that Chief Justice of the High Court is the “master of the roster” and should be the one to make decisions on such matters.
The observations by the top court come a day after a group of judges of the Allahabad High Court had written to Chief Justice Arun Bhansali urging him to convene a full court meeting in response to the Supreme Court’s recent order to have Justice Prashant Kumar removed from the criminal roster.
The bench said it was deleting the order at the request of Chief Justice of India B R Gavai, who had sought a reconsideration of the matter.
In an unprecedented move, the Supreme Court in an August 4 order, barred Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court of criminal jurisdiction, which means the judge will not be given any criminal case for adjudication. It also asked that he be assigned to a division bench alongside a senior judge until his retirement.
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