Protocol facilities made available to judges should not be used in a manner which causes inconvenience to others or brings public criticism to the judiciary, Chief Justice DY Chandrachud has said in a letter to the chief justices of all the high courts.
The CJI’s letter was prompted by a recent incident in which a judge of the Allahabad High Court called for an explanation from railway officials for allegedly not meeting his requirements during a train journey from Delhi to Prayagraj.
Subsequently, a letter was sent by the Registrar (Protocol) of the Allahabad High Court to the General Manager of the North Central Railway, Prayagraj, seeking explanation on the issue.
The CJI, in his letter, expressed displeasure over the judge seeking explanation from railway authorities.
“My attention has been drawn to a communication dated July 14, 2023 addressed by the Registrar in Charge of the Protocol Section of one of our High Courts to the General Manager of the regional railway establishment. The letter adverts to a judge of the High Court who was travelling on a train with his spouse,” the CJI’s letter said.
“A judge of the High Court does not possess disciplinary jurisdiction over railway personnel. Hence, there was no occasion for an officer of the High Court to call for an explanation from the railway personnel ‘to be placed before His Lordship for kind perusal’. Evidently, the officer of the High Court was carrying out a direction of the Judge of the High Court in this instance,” the CJI said in the letter dated July 19.
In his letter, Chandrachud said the communication has given rise to justifiable disquiet both within and outside the judiciary.
“Protocol ‘facilities’ which are made available to judges should not be utilised to assert a claim to privilege which sets them apart from society or as a manifestation of power or authority… A wise exercise of judicial authority, both on and off the Bench, is what sustains the credibility and legitimacy of the judiciary and the confidence which society has in its Judges,” the CJI wrote.
Chandrachud said he was writing this to all chief justices of the high courts with a request to share his concerns with all their court colleagues.
The letter by Registrar (Protocol) of the Allahabad High Court to the General Manager of the North Central Railway reportedly called attention to the train being delayed and the High Court judge not attended to by train staff.
“The train was late by more than three hours. Inspite of repeated intimation to the TTE, no GRP personnel were found in the coach to meet the requirements as desired by His Lordship. Further, no pantry car workers attended His Lordship for providing refreshments despite repeated calls. Moreover, when the call was made to the pantry car manager, the call was not picked up. The aforesaid incident caused great inconvenience and displeasure to His Lordship,” the communication reportedly said.
“In this regard, the Hon’ble Judge has desired that explanation may be called from the erring officials of the Railways, the GRP Personnel and the Pantry Car Manager pertaining to the inconvenience caused to His Lordship due to their conduct and dereliction of duty,” it reportedly added.
With PTI inputs
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