SC: HC registrar general can't initiate proceedings against judicial officers

The 2018 public high drama at Haridwar of a district judge accompanied by police and child welfare committee members rescuing a minor girl employed and allegedly tortured by a judicial officer, which resulted in the latter's dismissal after an inquiry by Uttarakhand HC, went up in smoke in SC on Monday.

A bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi found that the raid was ordered by HC's registrar general based on an anonymous complaint and that later inquiry proceedings against the 2008-batch judicial officer were also initiated by registrar general without any directive from either HC's CJ or committee of judges delegated with disciplinary powers.

The bench upheld the HC's judicial order quashing the inquiry proceedings that had led to imposition of major penalty against judicial officer Deepali Sharma and directed her reinstatement. It clarified that it has not examined the merit of allegations.