Judges must uphold stringent moral values in personal life:SC

A Bench of Justices B S Chauhan and Swatanter Kumar dismissed the petition of Dinesh Chandra Pandey who was removed in 1982 while working as a Civil Judge in Madhya Pradesh's Dhamtari district.

The apex court concurred with the findings of the trial court and the High Court that Pandey had accumulated bank balance which was disproportionate to known sources of his income.
"He belongs to a service which is looked upon by the public at large as a service cadre of high integrity and professional values.

"The judges are expected to apply stringent social and moral values to their standard of living. It was expected of the appellant to disclose all true and correct information and documents in his power and possession before the Enquiry Officer. It was not required of him to withhold relevant material and take such a defence which could not be substantiated during the course of departmental inquiry," the apex court said in a judgement.

The apex court did not agree with the judge's plea that he was falsely implicated by an advocate and that the high bank balance in his bank account was from the earning he received from his agricultural records.

The Bench pointed out that even in the IT returns, the judge had not mentioned any such accrual of agricultural income and the evidence on record clearly indicated his guilt.