Patna: The Patna high court on Monday granted relief to a retired district judge, Sudhanshu Kumar Lal, who had earlier conducted the trial of the fodder scam as the special judge of the CBI court in Patna.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice K Vinod Chandran and Justice Partha Sarathi allowed Lal's writ petition, quashing a December 7, 2009, order issued by the high court administration. The order had deferred Lal's super time salary scale by one year, adversely impacting his pension and other post-retirement benefits.
The disciplinary action was initiated against Lal on allegations that, on February 11, 2004, while serving as the district and sessions judge (DSJ) of Jehanabad, he left his station without properly informing the high court administration. It was further alleged that he clandestinely attended the oath ceremony of a Patna high court judge without prior permission. Based on these charges, Lal was found guilty and penalised by the high court administration.
Senior counsel Jitendra Singh and advocate Harsh Singh, appearing for Lal, argued that the departmental inquiry was flawed. They contended that no witnesses were examined before the inquiry officer to substantiate the allegations and the charges were proven against their client in an illegal manner.
After examining the records of the departmental inquiry, the high court found merit in the arguments of Lal's counsel and ruled in his favour. The court directed its registrar general to recalculate Lal's salary arrears and pension benefits, applying the super time pay scale to his service conditions.
However, the same bench refused to grant relief in another matter where Lal was given a minor punishment of censure while serving as the DSJ of Begusarai.