The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to examine in July a plea by several Gujarat judicial officers whose promotions were stayed by it last week, as they claimed they suffered humiliation due to the interim order.
Senior advocate Meenakshi Arora, representing the judicial officers, submitted before a bench led by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud that the judicial officers have been reverted back to their original lower cadre by the Gujarat High Court after the apex court's judgement on May 12.
She contended that they are suffering “humiliation” due to the demotion while six states in the country followed the principle of seniority-cum-merit for promotion, instead of merit-cum-seniority.
The bench noted that these matters are reversible and assured the affected judges that they would receive their retiral dues. It also noted out of the 68 judges, 28 were still in the merit list.
“We will list it after the summer vacation in July," the bench said.
On May 12, a bench headed by justice M R Shah, now retired, declared a select list prepared by the Gujarat High Court on March 10, 2023 and the subsequent notification issued on April 18 by the state government, which granted promotion to the cadre of district judge to the judicial officers as illegal and contrary to the rules and regulations and also to the apex court’s decision in the case of All India Judges’ Association (2002).
(Published 16 May 2023, 15:10 IST)
JOIN US