NEW DELHI: A mans legal quest to get back his estranged wife in 2015 triggered a series of events that left the Allahabad high court shocked earlier this week.
A division bench of the HC had to grapple with this case where the Muslim couples matrimonial dispute was decided under the Hindu Marriage Act and an interim maintenance fixed for the husband to pay the wife.
When the HC tried to find out from the family court judge how such an error could occur, he appeared in court and argued that his predecessor had passed the order. The judge instead questioned the wisdom of the high court in summoning him for an explanation. In its order passed on Monday, the HC bench reported the “misdemeanour” to the chief justice, adding that the judge concerned is “in this case, most astonishingly of the rank of district judge.”
Justices Anil Kumar and Saurabh Lavania added that judge Manoj Kumar Shukla said he had been unnecessarily called before the bench as he had not passed the order, which was stayed by the HC in October this year.
A judge is duty bound to see if he is applying correct law, says HC
The HC, in its order, recorded that “we are constrained to observe, that too, with a heavy heart and affliction that the scene created by judicial officer, Sri Manoj Kumar Shukla today inside the court room has diminished the image of judiciary which was unwarranted and also it manifested disrespect to this court which is not expected of a judicial officer. The conduct of the judicial officer in full view of the members of the Bar was not only disrespectful but was an attempt to show this court in poor light.”
He also maintained that HC should not have called him in such a manner despite the fact that he has not passed the order and cited Supreme Court rulings that a judicial officer should not be called before the court. TRead More – Source
