The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the promotion of
68 Gujarat lower judicial officers, including Surat Chief Judicial Magistrate
Harish Hasmukhbhai Varma who had convicted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a
defamation case.
A bench comprising Justices M R Shah and C T
Ravikumar said as per the Gujarat State Judicial Service Rules 2005, which was
amended in 2011, the promotions must be made on principle of
merit-cum-seniority and on passing a suitability test.
"We are more than satisfied that the impugned
list issued by the high court and the subsequent order issued by the state
government granting promotion to district judges are illegal and contrary to
the decision of this court.The same are, therefore, not sustainable," the bench
said.
"We stay the implementation of the promotion
list. Respective promotees are sent to their original post which they were
holding prior to their promotion," it said.
The top court passed an interim order staying the
promotions and directed that the matter be heard by an appropriate bench as
Justice Shah is retiring on May 15.
The top court was hearing a plea of senior civil
judge cadre officers, Ravikumar Maheta and Sachin Prataprai Mehta, challenging
the selection of the 68 judicial officers to the higher cadre of district
judges.
Varma, the CJM of Surat, is one of the 68 officers
of the district lower judiciary whose promotion has also been challenged by
Maheta and Mehta, presently working as undersecretary in the legal department
of the Gujarat government and the assistant director at the state legal
services authority.
The top court, which had issued notices to the state
government and the Registrar General of the Gujarat High Court on April 13 on
the plea of the two judicial officers, was very critical of the decision and
the order passed on April 18 to promote the 68 officers despite knowing the
pendency of the case before it.
"It is very unfortunate that despite the fact
that the respondents, more particularly, the state government, was aware of the
present proceedings and the fact that in the present proceedings, this court
made the notice returnable on April 28, 2023, the state government has issued
the promotion order dated April 18, 2023 i.e. after the receipt of the notice
issued by this court in the present proceedings, the top court said in its
order on April 28.