Four suspended women judicial officers reinstated, Madhya Pradesh HC tells Supreme Court

New Delhi: Four women civil judges, who were terminated from service due to their alleged unsatisfactory performance, have been reinstated, the Madhya Pradesh High Court registry on Tuesday told the Supreme Court.

The development assumes significance as the top court in January had taken a suo motu (on its own) cognisance of the termination of six women civil judges by the Madhya Pradesh government for their alleged unsatisfactory performance.

While issuing notice to the state government and the high court registry, the top court had also sought the response of axed judicial officers.

A bench comprising Justices B V Nagarathna and N Kotiswar Singh on Tuesday was apprised by the counsel for the Madhya Pradesh High Court registry that a decision has been taken in a full court meeting of the high court to revoke the termination of four out of six women judicial officers.

The bench noted that in a full court meeting of the high court on August 1, it was decided that the termination order of four judicial officers will be revoked and they will be posted as civil judge junior division with a probation of one year without back wages.

"The reinstated judicial officers will be placed at the bottom of their respective batch and that they will regain their original seniority subject to their confirmation," said lawyer Tanvi Dubey who appeared for some of the axed judicial officers.

The judicial officers, whose termination order has been revoked are Jyoti Varkhade, Sonakshi Joshi, Priya Sharma and Rachna Atulkaar Joshi.

As regards the other two other women officers, the high court registry told the top court that their termination has not been revoked and reasons and other details have been filed in a sealed cover.

The top court applauded the decision and the efforts put in by the high court in reaching this decision and also the efforts of the lawyers. It closed the suo motu case.

Earlier, the bench, while issuing the notices, had noted in the order that CJI D Y Chandrachud took cognisance of the matter which was registered as a writ petition.

Advocate Gaurav Agarwal, who has been appointed as amicus curiae to assist the court in the matter, said three of the six former judges who approached the top court last year after their services were terminated, have also moved the Madhya Pradesh High Court against their dismissal and their petition is pending there.

The amicus curiae had said the three former judicial officers had filed a writ petition in the apex court last year but later withdrew it.

The termination orders were passed in June 2023 by the state law department after an administrative committee and a full court meeting found their performance during the probation period unsatisfactory.

According to an application filed by one of the former judges, despite having an unblemished service record of four years and not having suffered any adverse remarks, she was terminated without following the due process of law.

She had alleged her termination from service was a violation of her fundamental rights under Articles 14 (right to equality before law) and 21 (right to life and personal liberty) of the Constitution .

She had said in her application that if the period of her maternity as well as child care leave is taken into consideration in the quantitative work assessment, it will cause grave injustice to her.

"It is a settled law that maternity and child care leave is a fundamental right of a woman and also the infant, therefore, evaluation of the applicant's performance for the probation period on the basis of the leave taken by her as part of maternity and child care is grossly violative of her fundamental rights," the application had said.