"This does not augur well with the system": Justice L. Nageswara Rao lashes out at Civil Judge who attended a hearing instead of holding his Court

Top Court lamented that the Judge who was present in court for a hearing instead of attending Court was not apologetic about the same, adding that this does not augur well with the system, especially since a competent lawyer had been already briefed to argue the case on behalf of the Judges Association.

Justice L. Nageshwar Rao today pulled up a Civil Judge from Delhi Judicial services for being present in the supreme court to watch proceedings instead of holding his court.

The court was hearing an application filed by Delhi Judicial Officers in the All India Judges Association case seeking modification of order which mandated that only candidates with a minimum of 5 years of experience can appear in the competitive exams conducted for appointment of district judges.

After noticing that a civil judge was present in the court Justice Rao asked,
“What are you doing here? It is 10:50 AM, what time does the court start?” When the judge replied that the court starts at 10 AM, a visibly upset Justice Rao said “Why are you here? You should be holding court!”

The judge replied by saying he was present in the court as he was on a short leave. When the court enquired as to what a short leave was, the judge replied saying it was a leave for a few hours and that he would hold court once the matter is over. Justice Rao at this point said,
“This does not augur well with our system. You are here despite having briefed a competent lawyer (referring to PS Patwalia, Senior Advocate)” The judge offered to leave the hearing after being pulled up.

Justice Rao then looked at Patwalia and said,
“He is not even apologetic. Anyway, we are not holding this against you.”

Justice Rao and Justice Gavai, who was sitting with him, then recounted their experiences of having appeared for judges.

The bench however was not inclined to pass any order in the matter as they wanted to hear the perspective of other High Courts and appoint an Amicus Curiae since the previous amicus ADM Sampath had passed away.

The bench on hearing the parties appointed Siddharth Bhatnagar, Senior Advocate, as the amicus in the matter. And further directed that the copies of the application be served on States and High Courts.

Case title: All India Judges Association Vs Union of India