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The former judge had approached the high court contending that she is entitled to pensionary benefits irrespective of whether she resigned or superannuated as the high court judge.
Former Bombay High Court Judge Pushpa Ganediwala who delivered the controversial skin-to-skin judgement under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act has approached the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court for denial of pensionary benefits.
Ganediwala served as a judge of the district court for 11 years after she was appointed as a judge in 2007. She was appointed as the additional judge of the Bombay High Court at the Nagpur Bench in 2019 for 2 years.
In January 2021, she delivered the controversial judgement holding that the act of pressing the breast of the minor girl without removing her top does not amount to sexual assault under the POCSO Act.
The judgement was overruled by the Supreme Court in November 2021 while observing that restricting the interpretation of the words “touch” or “physical contact” to “skin-to-skin contact” is not only be a narrow and pedantic interpretation of the provision contained in Section 7 of the POCSO Act, but it would lead to an absurd interpretation of the said provision.
The collegium had recommended the former judge as the permanent of the high court. However, after the controversial judgement, the collegium called back its recommendations and recommended extending the tenure of Ganediwala for another year as an additional judge and the same was notified by the Central government.
In February 2022, she resigned as a judge as she was not recommended to be appointed as a permanent judge and her tenure as an additional judge was also not extended.
She had approached the administrative side of the high court registrar seeking pensionary benefits as a former judge. However, the Registrar General of the high court informed her that she was not entitled to pensionary benefits as other judges.
Ganediwala has claimed that she is entitled to pensionary benefits irrespective of whether she resigned or superannuated as the high court judge.
The plea is yet to come for a hearing before the high court.
Caase title: Pushpa Ganediwala vs High Court of Registrar
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