Madhya Pradesh high court upholds sacking of judge who 'made cops and lawyers do squats'

BHOPAL/JABALPUR: Madhya Pradesh HC has upheld the dismissal of a civil judge accused of making lawyers and police personnel do squats or touch their ears to seek forgiveness as a mode of apology in contempt proceedings .

In the May 7 verdict, the bench of Chief Justice S K Kait and Justice Vivek Jain found that judge Kaustubh Khera had been discharged because of " unsatisfactory performance " and that the resolution for this was filed by the full court.

"It is clear that once no foundation of misconduct is alleged in the discharge order, it is a discharge simpliciter and cannot be lightly interfered because it is settled that it is only the superior authorities of the department that have to take work from the officer and they are the best people to judge whether the officer should continue in service or not having regard to his performance, conduct and suitability for the job," the bench ruled.

Khera moved HC saying that he had filed an RTI application to know the reasons for his dismissal and learnt that he had been "punished on disciplinary grounds". If it were so, he argued, he should have been issued notice and given a chance to explain himself.

In the judgment, the bench said: "Taking punitive action for misconduct is one thing and arriving at satisfaction that whether the officer would shape into a suitable officer or not on the basis of performance during probation period is altogether different..."