Gujarat: Judge resigns, highlights pressure

AHMEDABAD: Judges in the lower judiciary are facing performance pressure under the system set by the Gujarat high court, stated a judicial officer in his “departing note”.
K M Pandit, who was working as judicial magistrate first class in a Surat court, resigned on Saturday and wrote an “open letter” to the high court on the same day to take the “liberty to highlight some of the ground realities faced by judicial officers”. Pandit has written a 12-page note to show that many judges cannot meet the standards of performance framed by the higher judiciary due to circumstances such as transfers and the points system laid down to evaluate the disposal of cases.

Pandit’s letter is viewed by the higher judiciary as indifference shown by a casual judicial officer towards his duty. The high court’s registrar general, H D Suthar, could not be contacted for his reaction.
Pandit has refrained from making any comment on the high court’s system and its “control” over the lower judiciary, but is critical of the system of transfer and the pressure of performance at certain stations, where there is not enough judicial work. “This is the most grievous mental agony suffered by a judicial officer when he or she is posted at hard or tough stations or stations where comparative quality work is less due to the peculiar circumstances of that place,” he has written. “One or two postings at these stations have a greater impact on the performance of the judicial officer destroying his or her career progression.”
Citing pressure on judges due to the system that focuses more on disposal of cases, Pandit said, “…some drastic changes in the policy of promotions as well as norms of contested disposal are needed.”
Pandit also highlighted how judges try to conduct trial in prohibition and traffic cases, even though the dismissal of cases is a foregone conclusion, to show more disposal of “contested” matters.