On Thursday, the Supreme Court ruled to reinstate a Madhya Pradesh woman judge who quit in 2014 following an inquiry into her allegations of sexual harassment against a high court judge, ruling that her resignation could not be construed as voluntary. The Supreme Court of Madhya Pradesh set aside the order accepting her resignation and reinstated her as a district judge by a bench comprising Justices L Nageswara Rao and B R Gavai.
According to the court, however, she would not be entitled to back wages. ‘We hold and declare that the petitioner’s resignation from the post of Additional District and Sessions Judge, Gwalior dated July 15, 2014, cannot be construed to be voluntary and order dated July 17, 2014, accepting the resignation of the petitioner is quashed and set aside. ‘The Respondents are directed to reinstate the Petitioner forthwith as ADJ, though the petitioner would not be entitled to back wages, should be entitled to continuity in services with all consequential benefits w.e.f. July 15, 2014,’ the bench said.
A senior advocate, Indira Jaising, appeared for the woman and alleged that the judicial officer was forced to resign. Attorney General Tushar Mehta, appearing on behalf of the Registrar General of the high court, had told the top court that the argument of a ‘hostile work environment’ which allegedly forced her to resign is being advanced four years after she filed a sexual harassment complaint against him. The high court judge, against whom her complaint was filed, was later given a clean chit in December 2017 by a Rajya Sabha-appointed committee that scrutinized the case.
The woman’s appeal said that the high court ignored the categorical finding in the report of the Judges Inquiry Committee dated December 15, 2017, which called the petitioner’s resignation from her post as Additional District Judge ‘unbearable circumstances with no other alternative’. Her appeal said that the Judges Inquiry Committee had recommended that ‘the petitioner be reinstated to service because her resignation was tendered under coercion’.
A motion of impeachment was accepted against the high court judge after 58 members of Rajya Sabha supported the woman’s case. The report of the panel composed of then Supreme Court judge R Bhanumathi, then Bombay High Court judge Manjula Chellur, and now Attorney General of India K K Venugopal had given a clean chit to the high court judge and was tabled before the Rajya Sabha on December 15, 2017.
Post Your Comments