The Madhya Pradesh High Court on Friday told the Supreme Court that it will not change its earlier decision to terminate the services of six women district judges for their unsatisfactory performance. Earlier the top court had orally asked the high court to decide within three weeks whether it can reconsider its decision to terminate the services of the six women judges
A bench of BV Nagarathna and Augustine George Masih was hearing a suo motu petition initiated after the terminated women judges approached the top court.
Earlier, this month the bench had asked the Madhya Pradesh High Court to reconsider its decision to dismiss six women judges over “unsatisfactory performance” during the probation period. One of the six dismissed woman judges filed an impleadment application (IA) in the apex court saying the evaluation of her performance on the basis of the leave taken by her due to maternity and child care grossly violates her fundamental rights.
ALSO READ | Performance Evaluated On Basis Of ‘Maternity Leave’: Why SC Asked HC To Revisit Dismissal Of 6 Woman Judges
While orally asking the high court to reconsider the decision within three weeks, the bench had remarked, “See, institutions do not have egos, only status. Convey our intentions to the high court,”
In June 2023, the High Court had issued an office order dismissing six Class-II (Junior Division) civil judges for not meeting “set standards”. In January 2024, the Supreme Court took cognisance of the case and issued notices to Registrar General of the Madhya Pradesh High Court and the dismissed judges. The case has been posted for further hearing on April 30.
Earlier, prominent Advocate and human rights activist Abha Singh had told ABP Live that the issue is why these woman judges were dismissed in the first place.
“Three of the six terminated judges approached the Supreme Court, stating that their dismissal was premature and did not follow due process. The Supreme Court took suo motu cognisance, initiating a writ petition. However, the former judges withdrew their suit to approach the Madhya Pradesh High Court first, completely unaware that the Chief Justice of India (CJI), DY Chandrachud, had already taken cognisance of the case,” Singh said.
“They filed an IA in the top court contending that the termination violated their fundamental rights under Article 14 and 21 of the constitution, particularly citing concerns about maternity and childcare leave in performance evaluation,” Singh aaded.
One of the woman judges, who filed her application through advocate Charu Mathur, had contended that maternity and childcare leave is a fundamental right of a woman and also the infant. She further said her performance during probation was evaluated on the basis of leave taken by her for maternity and childcare.
Another application was filed by the three judges alleging that they have been terminated from service in the initial phase of the career despite the fact that quantative assessment of their work could not be carried out due to lapse of considerable period, on account of the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic.
Senior Advocate Gaurav Agarwal, who is appointed amicus curiae to assist the court in the case had told the court that there were no adverse remarks against their performance by the administrative committee of the high court.
