Insta
Calcutta HC Reinstates Compulsorily Retired Lower Court Judge, Imposes Cost Of Rs 1 Lakh On Itself
Swarajya Staff
Jul 08, 2019, 01:57 PM | Updated 01:57 PM IST
Save & read from anywhere!
Bookmark stories for easy access on any device or the Swarajya app.
Setting aside a punishment of compulsory retirement handed to a lower court judge, the Calcutta High Court imposed a “cost” of Rs one lakh on itself, reports Times of India.
The HC division bench of Justices Sanjib Banerjee and Justic Suvra Ghosh directed immediate reinstatement of the judge and ordered that “costs assessed at Rs 1 lakh to be paid by the high court to the appellant.”
According to the report, the HC administration had suspended Mintu Mallick, a judge and railway magistrate at the Sealdah court, in 2007 and later given him the punishment of compulsory retirement in 2013 for hauling up a driver and a guard of a suburban train for habitual delay.
A section of the railway staff had held a demonstration and disrupted services at the Sealdah station following Mallick’s action.
Observing that the punishment given to Mallick was "disproportionate" and "shocking" even if the guilt was established, the division bench of the HC on 4 July said that rather than protecting the judicial officer from intimidation and insult by railways employees, the magistrate was made to suffer for wanting to remedy a public wrong.
The HC ordered that ousted judicial officer be reinstated in service immediately and also directed that he be considered to have been in continous service without any break.
The division bench also directed payment of 75 per cent of the salary that he would have earned had he remained in service.
Save & read from anywhere!
Bookmark stories for easy access on any device or the Swarajya app.
Support Swarajya's 50 Ground Reports Project & Sponsor A Story
Every general election Swarajya does a 50 ground reports project.
Aimed only at serious readers and those who appreciate the nuances of political undercurrents, the project provides a sense of India's electoral landscape. As you know, these reports are produced after considerable investment of travel, time and effort on the ground.
This time too we've kicked off the project in style and have covered over 30 constituencies already. If you're someone who appreciates such work and have enjoyed our coverage please consider sponsoring a ground report for just Rs 2999 to Rs 19,999 - it goes a long way in helping us produce more quality reportage.
You can also back this project by becoming a subscriber for as little as Rs 999 - so do click on this links and choose a plan that suits you and back us.
Click below to contribute.