Kerala High Court Warns Its Officers Of Disciplinary Action On Failure To List Cases As Per Roster

The Kerala High Court has held that its officers are duty-bound to ensure that cases are listed before the appropriate bench as per the roster, unless otherwise ordered by the Chief Justice. It stated that officers would face disciplinary action if they posted matters deviating from the roster.The Division Bench comprising Chief Justice A J Desai and Justice V G Arun said, “...the Office is duty bound to list matters before the concerned Judge strictly as per the roster, unless otherwise ordered by the Chief Justice. Any deviation from this direction, thereby causing difficulty to the Hon'ble Judges or Advocates appearing in the matter, will invite disciplinary action against the officials concerned.”The present appeal was filed by the Nair Service Society challenging an interim order passed by a single judge, when as per roster he was heading a Division Bench. A total of four writ petitions were filed before a single judge and it was directed to be posted before the appropriate bench as per the roster. It was submitted that in spite of this direction, two writ petitions were again listed before the same single judge in which an interim order was passed and made as part heard. The appellants submitted that all four writ petitions should be listed and heard together before the appropriate bench as per the roster.The Court stated that the single judge ought to have adhered to the initial order and posted the four writ petitions together before the appropriate bench as per the roster. The Court thus allowed the appeal and quashed the orders passed in two writ petitions. It said, “The learned Single Judge who passed the impugned order was heading a Division Bench at the relevant point of time. The roster makes it clear that, if for any reason, a Judge in the Division Bench has to sit single, he shall deal with those matters specified for such purpose in the roster itself. As per the roster, the learned Single Judge was supposed to deal with original petitions and writ petitions (civil) of the year 2014 only.” Accordingly, the Court directed the four writ petitions to be placed before the single judge as per the current roster. Counsel for Appellants: Advocates M.Gopikrishnan Nambiar, K.John Mathai, Joson Manavalan, Kuryan Thomas, Paulose C. Abraham, Raja Kannan, Pranoy HarilalCounsel for Respondents: Advocate Biju P SCitation: 2024 LiveLaw Ker 299Case Title: Nair Service Society v T K Gopalakrishnan Nair Case Number: WA NO. 692 OF 2024Click here to read/download Judgment

Kerala High Court Warns Its Officers Of Disciplinary Action On Failure To List Cases As Per Roster

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