New Delhi, Jan 13 (Representative) The Supreme Court on Friday issued a notice to the Registrar General of the Madhya Pradesh High Court on the termination of six women judicial officers by the state government last year.A bench of Justice BV Nagarathna and Justice Sanjay Karol issued notice to the Registrar General of the Madhya Pradesh High Court and sought its reply on February 2. The Madhya Pradesh government terminated the services of six judges In June 2023, on the recommendation of the Madhya Pradesh High Court. The state Law Department had last year issued orders for terminating the services of six judges after the administrative committee and full court meeting found their performance during the probation period unsatisfactory. The Chief Justice of India had taken suo motto cognizance of the termination and appointed Advocate Gaurav Aggarwal as the Amicus Curie to assist the court in this matter.
The judges whose services were terminated are Sarita Chaudhary, who was posted in Umaria; Rachna Atulkar Joshi, who served in Rewa; Priya Sharma from Indore; Sonakshi Joshi from Morena; Aditi Kumar Sharma from Tikamgarh; and Jyoti Barkhade from Timarni.One of the judges among the six women filed a separate petition against the termination. The court impleaded her in the main case. , Advocate PS Patwalia and advocate Tanvi Dubey appearing for the intervenor argued that despite having an unblemished service record for four years and without any adverse remarks or observations against her she was illegally terminated without any due process of law. This was a violation of her fundamental rights under Articles 14 and 21 of the Indian Constitution. The intervener alleged that the reasons provided for her termination are not only contrary to the record maintained by Madhya Pradesh High Court but also show the absolute arbitrariness she has been subjected to.
She highlighted that in the first week of October 2023, she received her Annual Confidential Report (ACR) for the year 2022, wherein she was awarded a grade B (very good) by the Principal District and Sessions Judge and portfolio judge, but a grade D (average) by the Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court. This grading, she claimed, was an afterthought as it was passed a month after her termination. She said that if the period of her maternity as well as child care leave is taken into consideration in the quantitative work assessment, it will cause grave injustice to her. “It is a settled law that maternity and child care leave is a fundamental right of a woman and also the infant, therefore evaluation of the Applicant’s performance for the probation period based on the leave taken by her as part of maternity and child care, is grossly violative of her fundamental rights,” the application said. Advocate Charu Mathur also appeared for some of the judges. The matter will now come up for a hearing on February 2.