New Delhi : The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the promotion of 68 judicial officers of lower courts in Gujarat, including Chief Judicial Magistrate of Surat Harish Hasmukhbhai Verma. Surat’s Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Hasmukhbhai Verma had convicted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a defamation case. A bench of Supreme Court Justice MR Shah and Justice CT Ravikumar said that according to the Gujarat State Judicial Service Rules 2005, the principle of merit-cum-seniority and promotion should be made only after passing the qualifying examination. The rules were amended in 2011.
High Court-Gujarat government orders illegal for promotion
This bench of the Supreme Court said that the list issued by the High Court and the order issued by the State Government for promotion of district judges are illegal and contrary to the decision of this court. Therefore it cannot be maintained. The court said that we ban the implementation of the promotion list. The promoted officers are sent back to their original posts in which they were posted prior to their promotion.
Cadre selection was challenged
The apex court passed an interim order staying the promotion and directed the matter to be listed before an appropriate bench for hearing, as Justice Shah is retiring on May 15. The apex court is hearing a petition by senior civil judge cadre officers Ravikumar Mehta and Sachin Pratapraya Mehta, challenging the selection of 68 judicial officers in the higher cadre of district judges.
Surat’s CJM’s promotion also stopped
The 68 judicial officers whose promotions have been challenged include CJM Verma of Surat, who is currently working as Under Secretary in the Legal Department of the Government of Gujarat and Assistant Director of the State Legal Services Authority. On April 13, the Supreme Court issued notices to the Registrar General of the Gujarat High Court and the state government on a petition by two judicial officers. Criticizing the order passed by the Supreme Court, it had said that the order for the promotion of 68 officers was given on April 18 knowing that the matter was pending before it.
Rahul Gandhi’s unique style in Karnataka elections, enjoyed masala dosa with delivery partners, drank coffee
examination for promotion
The Supreme Court had said that in the promotion order, the state government had also said that it would depend on the outcome of the pending hearing in the Supreme Court. The petitioners said that as per the Recruitment Rules, the post of District Judge is filled on the basis of the principle of merit-cum-seniority and on the basis of passing a qualifying examination, keeping 65 per cent reservation. He said that the principle of merit-cum-seniority was ignored and appointments were made on the basis of seniority-cum-merit. Both the judicial officers had secured 135.5 and 148.5 marks respectively out of 200. Despite this, the candidates who scored less marks were appointed as District Judges. Surat’s CJM Verma had on March 23 sentenced Rahul Gandhi to two years in jail in a 2019 criminal defamation case over his ‘Modi surname’ remark.
