‘Judges pursuing higher education fall short in duty’

In light of lower court judges and high court officials failing to fulfil the workload criteria, the Registrar General (RG) of Bombay High Court has issued a restraining order, stopping them from pursuing higher education without its prior permission. HC RG Mangesh Patil said that the refusals are usually for judges who want to pursue LLM.

According to the order issued on August 5, “it is observed judicial officer/high court officials working in the state of Maharashtra and Goa do not seek prior permission before taking admission or before appearing for examination of higher educational qualifications.”

Justifying the order, Mr Patil said, “Many lower court judges enrol for LLM courses in order to become eligible for promotion to higher courts. As a result, they are unable to complete their daily disposals and assignments,” said Mr Patil.

The order issued by Mr Patil further says, “I am under directions to request you to stop such practice forthwith. No judicial officer/high court official shall take admission or appear for any examination for higher studies without obtaining prior sanction/permission of the high court. Breach of these directions shall be viewed seriously.”

“The order is part of the reminders issued by the court to new employees and is a reiteration of the civil services rules,” said Mr Patil, adding that most of the applications received by the court were granted permission following their performance check.

“If the judges fulfil the criteria of completing a minimum number of disposals in a month, then they are granted permission and the number of applications refused are only two to three per cent,” he said.