SC takes suo moto cognisance of termination of six women judges by MP govt

In June, 2023, the Madhya Pradesh dispensation cancelled the employment of six women civil judges that was recommended by the Madhya Pradesh High Court. The state's Law Department sent orders in that following the administrative panel finding their performance not satisfactory during the probation. Writes ETV Bharat's Sumit Saxena

New Delhi:The Supreme Court on Friday took suo motu cognisance of the termination of six women judges by the Madhya Pradesh government.

A Bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Sanjay Karol appointed advocate Gaurav Agarwal as amicus curiae to assist the court in the matter. In June last year, the Madhya Pradesh government terminated the services of six women civil judges on the recommendation of the Madhya Pradesh High Court.

The Law Department of the state 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 women judges’ whose services have been terminated include Sarita Chaudhary posted at Umaria, Rachna Atulkar Joshi posted at Rewa, Priya Sharma posted at Indore, Sonakshi Joshi posted at Morena, Aditi Kumar Sharma posted at Tikamgarh and Jyoti Barkhade posted at Timarni.

The apex court took note of the application of three of the six former judges addressed to the Supreme Court and decided to treat it as a writ petition. The application by three former civil judges, class-II (junior division) from Madhya Pradesh State Judicial Service has been addressed to the apex court.

An impleadment application filed by one of the former judges through advocate Charu Mathur, contended that despite having an unblemished service record of four years and not having suffered any adverse remarks, she was terminated without following any due process of law.

The judge claimed that her termination from service was a violation of her fundamental rights under Articles 14 (right to equality before law) and 21 (right to life and personal liberty) of the Constitution.

The application added 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. The application said 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 on the basis of the leave taken by her as part of maternity and child care is grossly violative of her fundamental rights.

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