Document Fragment View

Matching Fragments

J U D G M E N T DR. ANAND, J.

Leave granted.

This is an unusual case. The observations, comments and allegations made and the order passed by a learned Single Judge of the Rajasthan High Court, Mr. Justice Shethna, in relation to a disposed of writ petition, by sending for its record in a totally unrelated and unconnected criminal revision petition, which have been put in issue in this appeal, touch not only upon the discipline of the High court and the powers of the Chief Justice to assign cases and allot Benches but also the larger issue of judicial propriety. the order directing issuance of notice of contempt to the Chief Justice of the High Court raises a fundamental question about the jurisdiction of a single Judge to issue such a notice in the established facts of the case. It is not individuals but the prestige of the Institution which is at stake in this case. The manner in which 'allegations' have been made against the Chief Justice of the High Court, the Division Bench of the High Court which had disposed of the writ petition and the some of the former chief Justices of the Rajasthan High Court, including the present Chief Justice of India, Mr, Justice J.S. Verma, has caused us much anguish. We wish we did not have to deal with a case like this but we shall be singularly failing in our duties to the Institution, if we do not deal with the matter and take it to its logical conclusion. first, some salient 1 Writ Petition No. 2949 of 1996 was filed, as a Public Interest Litigation, on 9.9.1996 in the High Court of Rajasthan at Jodhpur by an advocate of that court, inter alia seeking directions to provide suitable accommodation to the Judges of the Rajasthan High Court and for certain other benefits for the Judges. During the proceedings of the writ petition certain interim orders came to be made by Shethna, J. from time to time. On 29.4.1997 Shethna, J. directed the writ petition to be treated as part-heard at the 'request' of learned counsel for the parties. In the meanwhile, Shri D.R. Bhandari, Advocate, filed an application for being impleaded as petitioner No.2 in that writ petition. he inter alia challenged the legality and validity of the constitution of a Bench of the High Court at Jaipur as also the order of the State Government declaring bungalow No. A/2 at Jaipur as the Guest House for the exclusive use of the Chief Justice and bungalow No. A/5 at Jaipur as the High Court Guest House. Certain other issues were also raised by Shri Bhandari in that application. Over-ruling the objections raised by the respondent therein inter alia, to the effect that the application of Shri Bhandari would widen the scope of the writ petition, the application of Shri Bhandari was allowed by Shethna, J. on 29.7.1997 and he was impleaded as petitioner No.2 in the writ petition. The case was then adjourned from time to time on being listed as part-heard before the learned single Judge. In the meantime, the roster was changed and Shethna, J. was required to sit in a Division Bench instead of sitting singly between 4.9.1997 and 12.9.1997. On 8.9.1997, the Additional Advocate General for the State of Rajasthan moved an application under Rule 55 of the Rules of the High Court of Judicature for Rajasthan (hereinafter the Rules) with the prayer that since challenge to the legality and validity of the constitution of a Bench of the High court at Jaipur had been raised by petitioner No.2, Shri Bhandari, Writ Petition No. 2949/96 should be refereed to a Division Bench for hearing. By an administrative order, the Chief Justice directed, on 8.9.97, that the application filed by the Additional Advocate General be put up for orders on the next day at 10.30 A.M. A judicial order then came to be made on 9.9.1997 by the Chief Justice, in presence of all the parties to the writ petition. It was directed that the writ petition should be listed before a Division Bench of the High court comprising Mr. Justice M.P. Singh and Mr. Justice B.S. Chauhan since it involved constitutional questions. When the writ petition was listed before the Division Benchon 10.9.1997, the following order came to be passed:-

In the course of the order comments were made not only against the Chief Justice and the Judges constituting the Division Bench but also against some of the former Chief Justices regarding the "illegal" drawl by them of daily allowance while sitting at Jaipur.

While the judicial propriety, validity and justification for making insinuations against the Chief Justice of the High Court, casting aspersions on the learned Judges constituting the Division Bench and making comments and allegations against some of the former Chief Justices of that court including the present Chief Justice of India, has been squarely put in issue by the State of Rajasthan in this appeal by special leave, the Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court-respondent No.2, has called in question the notice directed to be issued to him to show cause why contempt proceedings be not initiated against him.

The aforesaid observations cast uncalled for aspersions not only against the learned counsel for the writ petitioner who had made the statement before the Division Bench but also against the learned Judges constitution the Division Bench. To say the least it was improper on the part of the learned Judge to have cast aspersions on the conduct of the counsel and the Bench in relation to a disposed of matter, in a wholly unconnected judicial proceedings. In doing so he transgressed all bounds of judicial propriety. In doing so he transgressed all bounds of judicial propriety and discipline.

more careful while drawing such D.A. amount. It is nothing but a mis-appropriation of the public fund which is a criminal offence under the penal Code."

Justification or propriety for making these comments apart, the validity of these comments/observations needs to be tested for procedural propriety factual accuracy and visible legal support.

So far as the procedural propriety is concerned, it need not detain us much as admittedly, the comments have been made in respect of all the former Chief Justices of the Rajasthan High Court who held that high office till 1994, without putting them on any notice and behind their back. All of them have been condemned unheard. it needs no discussion to say, in the light of the settled law, that an order of this type which violated potential principles of natural justice and is made behind the back of the affected is wholly unsustainable. On this short ground, all those comments/observations and conclusions arrived at by Shethna, J. are required to be quashed and expunged. the learned Attorney General submitted that the observations (supra) were both factually and legally not sustainable and urged that keeping in view the high office of Chief Justice of India we should test legal and factual validity of the observations also. We therefore do not propose to rest our order on grounds of procedural infirmities and judicial propriety only. both factually as well as legally the observations/comments, tend, as the discussion shall presently expose, to be the result of total disregard for propriety and decency as to make the motives of the author suspect and in the process the Judge has made himself Coram- non-judice.