The High Court of Karnataka has rejected the plea of a former civil judge who had questioned the order of compulsorily retiring him from judicial service after he was caught red-handed while signing with backdate the order sheets of proceedings of his court even though he had not held proceedings on that particular day due to his absence.
Thirty-nine-year-old Shivanand Laxman Anchi, a native of Bailahongal in Belagavi district, was appointed as a civil judge (junior division) in 2014 and was serving as an additional civil judge and judicial magistrate first class, Virajpet, during 2019 when he was caught red-handed by the Principal Civil and Sessions Judge, Kodagu district, when the former was signing orders sheets with backdate.
Justice P.S. Dinesh Kumar, who dismissed Mr. Anchi’s petition, observed that, “to record proceedings, which have not actually taken place, in the order sheet is anathema to sacrosanct court proceedings and such conduct cannot be countenanced in the case of a judicial officer/judge.”
“If this is permitted, there will be no sanctity for the proceedings. It is therefore, imperative that strict action is taken,” the High court said.
Serious dereliction
“By instructing the Bench clerk to prepare the order sheets of the previous day and by signing them on the following day, petitioner has committed a serious dereliction of his duty,” the High Court observed while declining to accept petitioner’s contention that punishment of compulsory retirement was disproportionate to the gravity of the charges.
Petitioner was compulsorily retired from the service in March 2021 after holding an enquiry, in which some of the staff, attached to the court hall in Virajpet where petitioner was serving, had deposed that he had not conducted the proceedings on June 26, 2019, but asked them to prepare the order sheets of that day’s proceedings and signed them the next day with backdate.
The High Court also noted that the petitioner had not chosen to cross-examine the witnesses nor adduced any evidence on his behalf in the enquiry.
