Supreme Court overturns Madras High Court order passed after judge's retirement

Supreme Court overturns Madras High Court order passed after judge’s retirement

The Supreme Court has overturned a judgement passed by the Madras High Court, noting that the reasoned order was issued five months after the judge’s retirement and was published on the High Court’s official website afterward.

The top court also criticised the former high court judge for pronouncing a one-line order in a criminal case and releasing the detailed judgement five months after he retired from service.

The Supreme Court noted that retaining the file of a case for five months after demitting office was an act of gross impropriety.

Setting aside the high court’s “impugned order”, a bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan on Tuesday said, “It is evident that even after the learned judge left office, they prepared reasons and finalised the judgement. Holding onto a case file for five months after leaving office is a clear act of impropriety.”

In the case wherein the order was passed, the Madras High Court had dismissed a chargesheet and acquitted the defendants in a criminal case. Although the operative part of the order was announced a month before the judge’s retirement, the detailed reasoning was not made public.

Justice T Mathivanan retired on May 26, 2017, and the detailed judgement was only published on the website on October 23, 2017.

“The detailed judgement, spanning over 250 pages, was released five months after the judge’s retirement. It is evident that even after leaving office, the judge prepared the reasoning and finalised the judgement,” stated the Supreme Court in its ruling.

“Lord Hewart stated a hundred years ago that ‘justice must not only be done, but must also be seen to be done’. The actions taken in this case contradict Lord Hewart’s principle. We cannot condone such improprieties,” the top court underlined.

Justice Mathivanan had quashed a chargesheet filed by the investigating agency (CBI) against businessman Naresh Prasad Agarwal of Chennai in a Rs 113 crore cheating case. Following this, the CBI appealed to the Supreme Court.

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