A SC bench sought a clarification on the criteria for termination, questioning the assessment of the woman judicial officer that had ignored the mental and physical trauma endured by her due to the miscarriage
The Supreme Court on Wednesday censured a decision by the Madhya Pradesh High Court to sack a woman judge based on her performance, saying it did not consider her predicament due to miscarriage.
A bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and N Kotiswar Singh sought a clarification from the high court on the criteria for the termination of civil judges. “I hope such criteria is also imposed on male judges. I have no hesitation in saying this. The lady, she has got pregnant and she had miscarriage. The mental and physical trauma of a lady who has undergone a miscarriage. What is this? I wish men have menstruation. Then they will know what it is,” observed Justice Nagarathna.
He further questioned the assessment of the woman judicial officer, which had ignored the mental and physical trauma endured by her due to the miscarriage.
WHAT IS THE CASE?
On November 11, 2023, the SC took a suo motu (on its own) cognisance of the termination of six women civil judges by the state government over their alleged unsatisfactory performance. But, a full court of the MP high court reconsidered its earlier resolutions on August 1, and decided to reinstate four officers — Jyoti Varkade, Sushri Sonakshi Joshi, Sushri Priya Sharma and Rachna Atulkar Joshi — on certain terms and conditions leaving out the other two — Aditi Kumar Sharma and Sarita Chaudhary.
The top court was considering the cases of the judges, who joined Madhya Pradesh judicial service in 2018 and 2017, respectively. According to a report submitted by the high court, Sharma’s performance dropped from “very good” and “good” ratings during 2019-20 to “average” and “poor” in the subsequent years.
It was stated that in 2022, she had about 1,500 pending cases with disposal rate below 200. But, she informed the HC about suffering a miscarriage in 2021, followed by her brother’s cancer diagnosis.
While taking cognisance of the termination, the bench issued notices to the HC registry and the judicial officers who had not approached it against the termination. The judges were terminated despite the fact that a quantitative assessment of their work could not be done on account of the Covid outbreak, the court noted.
“The officers along with three other women officers were appointed in judicial services in the state of Madhya Pradesh. They are alleged to be terminated from service primarily on account of disposal not being up to the standards set,” the office report stated.