HC judges in no way inferior to SC judges: Supreme Court

We have noticed that nowadays it has become a trend amongst the lawyers to criticise the judges of the high courts and trial courts for no reason, the top court said.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday said the high court judges were “in no way inferior" to the ones in the top court, as it directed a litigant and his lawyers to tender an unconditional apology to a Telangana High Court judge against whom they levelled “scurrilous allegations”.

A bench of Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justices K Vinod Chandran and Atul S Chandurkar said, “We have noticed that nowadays it has become a trend amongst the lawyers to criticise the judges of the high courts and trial courts for no reason. It has also become a trend that whenever a political figure is involved in state, it is perceived that the petitioner has not got justice and seeks transfer."

The court emphasised that the judges of the high courts enjoyed the same immunity as judges of the Supreme Court.

The bench said under the constitutional scheme, high court judges were "in no way inferior" to judges in the Supreme Court.

"Though judges of the Supreme Court can modify the decisions of the judges of high courts, it has no administrative control over the judges of the high court,” the court said.

The remarks by the CJI-led bench are significant also in light of the August 4 order by a separate bench directing removal of Justice Prashant Kumar of the Allahabad High Court from criminal roster till his retirement and making him sit with a senior judge in division bench. Subsequently, the bench deleted the directions on a request by the CJI but maintained the order for immediate withdrawal of criminal jurisdiction from Justice Kumar.

In the instant case, the court was dealing with a suo motu contempt petition initiated on July 29, 2025 against N Peddi Raju, for he had alleged bias and impropriety against the high court judge who quashed a criminal case under the SC/ST Act against Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy.

Considering “unconditional and unreserved apology” tendered by senior advocate Sanjay Hegde, the bench said, it should be filed within a week before the high court judge concerned, who would take a call on it within a week thereafter.