"Officer Favouring The Accused, Using His Vehicles For Travelling Purpose": Uttarakhand High Court Suspends A Judicial Officer

The Uttarakhand High Court has suspended Abhishek Kumar Srivastava, Civil Judge (Senior Division)/Judicial Magistrate, Almora and has attached him with the District Judgeship's headquarter Dehradun. The primary allegation is that he and his family members have been using private vehicles belonging to accused Chandra Mohan Sethi, for travelling to the homes of his relatives in Delhi, Ghaziabad and Noida. It may be noted that against accused Chandra Mohan Sethi (to whom the private vehicles, allegedly used by the Officer and his family members belong), a Criminal is pending in the Court of Civil Judge (Senior Division)/Judicial Magistrate, Almora, presided over by Abhishek Kumar Srivastava. The Office Memorandum (dated 22nd February) issued by the High Court states, "Sri Abhishek Kumar Srivastava, Civil Judge (Senior Division)/Judicial Magistrate, Almora, against whom, a serious complaint has been received, on which, disciplinary proceeding is contemplated, is put under suspension with immediate effect." It has also been mentioned in the Memorandum that on perusal of record, it was found that he "is favouring the accused Mr. Chandra Mohan Sethi and for favouring him, separated his case without there being any reason." Importantly, the Memorandum further states, "That aforesaid act and conduct of Sri Abhishek Kumar Srivastava casts serious doubt upon his integrity, amounts to grave misconduct and is in violation of Rule 3(1), 3(2), and Rule 30 of the Uttarakhand Government Servants' Conduct Rules, 2002. Said conduct is unbecoming of a Judicial Officer." Related news Last month, the Patna High Court had issued an order informing that it has placed Sudhir Kumar Sinha, CJM, Motihari under suspension with immediate effect. It may be noted that as per the report of Hindi News Portal, Prabhat Khabar, the Patna High Court had taken this action against Motihari CJM (Sudhir Kumar Sinha) as he had passed a controversial bail order. He was placed under suspension in the exercise of the powers conferred by Sub-rule (1) of Rule 6 of the Bihar Judicial Service (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 2020. Further, in December 2020, the Uttarakhand High Court had suspended Prashant Joshi, District Judge, Dehradun who fixed the official board of District Judge, Dehradun on a private Audi Car and travelled in it to a camp court on December 21 and 22. Also, accepting the full bench resolution of the Uttarakhand High Court and on the recommendation of the State Government, the Uttarakhand government had last year dismissed a Civil Judge from service for allegedly torturing a minor girl (13-year-old) who worked as a domestic help at her residence in Haridwar, Uttarakhand. Click Here To Download Office MemorandumRead Office Memorandum

"Officer Favouring The Accused, Using His Vehicles For Travelling Purpose": Uttarakhand High Court Suspends A Judicial Officer

Sparsh Upadhyay

Tags