Gujarat high court upholds axing of judge on unauthorised leave

10 months ago 16

AHMEDABAD: The

Gujarat high court

has upheld the dismissal of a judge who went on

unauthorized leave

after informing his superior that he would not return to office until a dispute with the

local bar association

was resolved. The HC said that the judge's unauthorized absence was not befitting a judicial officer.
The case involved Nilesh Chauhan, who was selected in the lower judiciary in 2005.

He served as a judicial magistrate first class in Vadodara in 2013, encountering issues with the president of the Vadodara Bar Association, Nitin Patel.
Enraged, Chauhan wrote a letter to the principal district judge and the unit judge of the high court, stating he would not resume office until they resolved the issue with the bar association, whose strike he had opposed.
In March 2014, the HC issued a chargesheet to Chauhan for using intemperate language for the district judge and the HC judge, and for making baseless allegations.

He was asked to clarify his unauthorised absence between May 2013 and July 2013. The judge denied the charges, but the inquiry officer found him guilty of absenteeism and using undignified language against his seniors. He was suspended and then dismissed in December 2015.
Chauhan contested his dismissal, arguing that the letter expressed his anguish and the punishment was disproportionate. The HC's administrative side asserted that a judicial officer abandoning duties is highly unbecoming and tantamount to going on strike.

After considering the case, a bench of Justice Biren Vaishnav and Justice Nisha Thakore recently observed that an ordinary employee's unauthorized absence might be perceived differently. "Similar standards cannot and should not be applied in case of a judicial officer who abandons his service in defiance by addressing a letter to his principal district judge that unless a particular issue is resolved, he shall not report for duty," the bench said while upholding Chauhan's dismissal.

Article From: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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