Patna: In a major relief to the retired district judge Sudhanshu Kumar Lal in a salary matter, the Patna High Court on Wednesday allowed his writ petition against a directive issued by the administration on December 7, 2009.
A division bench headed by Chief Justice K Vinod Chandran directed the registrar general of the high court to recalculate Lal’s pension and retirement benefits and implement the super time pay scale, which was deferred by one year as part of disciplinary action.
The high court administration alleged that on February 11, 2004, while working as Jehanabad’s district and sessions judge (DSJ), Lal left the headquarters in violation of service rules and without properly informing the administration. Lal, who had conducted trials in the fodder scam, was also accused of secretly attending the oath ceremony of a high court judge. Later, the administration convicted him in these cases and punished him. Challenging this order, he filed petitions in the court.
During the hearing, senior advocate Jitendra Singh told the court that no witness was presented before the investigating officer to confirm the allegations. He said that the allegations were proven illegal, following which the court quashed the official order.
However, the court did not overturn the penalty for criticizing his work as a district judge in Begusarai in a different case.
