In an extraordinary rebuke, the Supreme Court of India has barred an Allahabad High Court judge from hearing any criminal cases for the remainder of his tenure, calling one of his recent rulings “one of the worst and most erroneous” they had encountered.
A bench comprising Justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan delivered the scathing critique after reviewing the judge’s refusal to quash criminal summons issued in a purely civil business dispute involving M/S Shikhar Chemicals.
The top court said the judge’s ruling, which allowed criminal proceedings to continue in what was clearly a civil matter, amounted to a "mockery of justice."
“The judge concerned has not only cut a sorry figure for himself but has made a mockery of justice. We are at our wits’ end to understand what is wrong with the Indian Judiciary at the level of High Court,” the bench stated.
The case at the centre of the controversy involved a complaint by Lalita Textiles, which delivered thread worth Rs 52.34 lakh to Shikhar Chemicals. While Rs 47.75 lakh was paid, the remaining Rs 4.59 lakh remained unsettled. Lalita Textiles filed a criminal complaint to recover the amount, and a magistrate subsequently issued summons to the company.
When Shikhar Chemicals moved the high court seeking to quash the order - arguing it was a civil financial dispute, not a criminal matter - the judge dismissed the plea, suggesting that resorting to civil litigation would be too time-consuming for the complainant.
The Supreme Court strongly objected to this reasoning.
“It was expected of the high court to know the well-settled position of law that in cases of civil disputes a complainant cannot be permitted to resort to criminal proceedings,” the bench observed. “Passing of such absurd and erroneous orders is something unpardonable.”
The court further expressed concern that this was not the first time they had come across problematic rulings by the same judge.
As a result, the top court directed that:
- The Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court must immediately remove all criminal cases from the judge’s docket.
- The judge must now sit only on division benches, and only with a senior, experienced judge.
- If the judge is ever assigned as a single judge again, he must not be given any criminal matters.
“We request the Chief Justice of the High Court of Allahabad to assign this matter to any other Judge of the High Court as he may deem fit,” the bench said.
The Supreme Court noted it was “constrained” to issue such a direction but felt compelled to act given the seriousness of the error and its implications for judicial integrity.
“Many such erroneous orders have been looked into by us over a period of time,” the bench remarked.