FOREIGN TRIPS OF 11 LOWER COURT JUDGES WITHOUT SC CONSULTATION CJ annoyed

Chief Justice SK Sinha on Monday expressed annoyance over the law ministry sending 11 lower court judges to Australia on a training course without consulting with the Supreme Court.
The Chief Justice conveyed his displeasure over the issue to attorney general Mahbubey Alam while the Appellate Division was hearing a law ministry petition seeking further time to publish the disciplinary rules for the lower court judges in the official gazette.
After a brief hearing the Chief Justice gave the government two more weeks’ time to get the rules published in the gazette. 
It was for the 16th time that the government took the time extension to complete the task.
The Chief Justice said that the law ministry, despite request, did not provide to the Supreme Court the list of lower court judges who were sent abroad while serving government offices on deputation.
The Chief Justice said that the lower court judges serving the government on deputation must keep it in their minds that they were not government servants.
He said that the Supreme Court had the right to know what the lower court judges on deputation were doing and where?
The Chief Justice said that some of the lower court judges serving the law ministry on deputation were trying to keep watch on the Supreme Court, quite oblivious that they were sent to the ministry on deputation by the Supreme Court to protect the interests of the judiciary. 
These lower court judges, he pointed out, need to understand that any order of the Supreme Court beings law was binding for each of them. 
The Chief Justice asked the attorney general to advise the law ministry to read the General Clauses Act and if it can’t understand it, seek the interpretation of the law from the Supreme Court.
Providing validity to the disciplinary rules for the subordinate court judges remained pending with the law ministry since 1999 when the Appellate Division gave 12 directives to separate lower judiciary from the executive branch.
Once the disciplinary rules are in place the lower judiciary would come out of the law ministry’s control, said lawyers.
The rules would bring the subordinate courts under the Supreme Court’s control, they said.  

 

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