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March 18, 2024 03:22 pm | Updated 08:56 pm IST – CHENNAI
A file photo of the Madras High Court Building in Chennai | Photo Credit: PICHUMANI K
The Madras High Court refused to interfere with the punishment of removal from service imposed upon an Additional District Judge for having participated in a conference call relating to the payment of money with Sankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati of Kanchi Mutt when the latter had been arrayed as the prime accused in the Sankararaman murder case.
A Division Bench of Justices S.M. Subramaniam and K. Rajasekar dismissed a 2023 writ petition filed by the former district judge, A. Rajasekaran, challenging the punishment imposed on him on November 7, 2022. It said that the punishment could not be construed as disproportionate to the gravity of the proved charges and therefore it had to be necessarily upheld.
“We are of the opinion that judicial officers are expected to maintain high level of integrity. In the present case… the proved charges (of having participated in the telphonic conversation) are grave in nature, touching upon the integrity and honesty of the judicial officer… Thus, we are not inclined to interfere with the quantum of punishment,” the judges wrote.
In so far as the issue of compliance of the principles of natural justice was concerned, the Bench said, the principles had been followed scrupulously by the disciplinary authority. A preliminary enquiry was conducted to ascertain the truth with the assistance of forensic science experts and the charges had been framed only after finding prima facie material.
The delinquent officials (including the present writ petitioner and a Section Officer in the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court N. Ramesh Kumaar who too had participated in the conference call) had submitted their explanations and participated in the departmental inquiry. They were also permitted to cross-examine the witnesses and peruse the records.
The inquiry report was also served on the delinquent officials seeking their further objections on the findings. The explanations submitted by them thereafter were taken into consideration by the disciplinary authority before the final decision to remove the petitioner from service was taken by the Full Court (a body of all judges) of the Madras High Court, the Bench pointed out..
“The case of the petitioner was considered at all levels, including the high-level administrative committee (comprising top seven judges) of the High Court. Thus, this court does not find any infirmity in respect of the procedures followed in the departmental disciplinary proceedings,” the Bench said before dismissing the writ petition as devoid of merits.
The judges also highlighted that the issue of the telephonic conversation between the Sankaracharya, the district judge, the High Court staff and B. Gowri Kamatchi, CEO of Sree Uthradom Thirunal Academy of Medical Sciences in Thiruvananthapuram came to light after advocate S. Doraisamy lodged a complaint with the Registrar (Vigilance) of the High Court in 2011.
Then, he had submitted a compact disc containing a recording of the telephone conversation. Subsequently, another advocate P. Sundarrajan filed a writ petition seeking an inquiry into the issue. It was on the orders of the High Court, that cyber crime expert M. Sudhakar had confirmed that the voice of the district judge in the conversation was that of the writ petitioner.
Initially, it was suspected that Puducherry Sessions Judge T. Ramasamy had participated in the telephonic conversation. However, all proceedings initiated against him were dropped after the evidence proved that it was not his voice.
Tamil Nadu / court administration / judge / lawyer / murder / crime / police
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