Ethics and the Judiciary

The Gujarat High Court's recent order that a single adverse remark against a judge or a question raised on his/her integrity was sufficient ground for compulsory retirement is significant, as it calls upon the judiciary to adopt the highest ethical standards and urges judges to be ‘honest to the core’.

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A bench of Justices AS Supehia and LS Pirzada, while dismissing the plea of petitioner JK Acharya, an ad hoc sessions judge who was compulsorily retired along with 17 other sessions judges in 2016 by the High Court's full court, said that even issuing a show cause notice was not necessary, as compulsory retirement in public interest does not amount to punishment. Rejecting the argument that past promotions or higher pay scales protect a judge from premature retirement, the bench said that cannot have any impact on the order of compulsory retirement. The court also ruled that judges of the High Court's full court may compulsorily retire a judicial officer on the basis of his/her general reputation even without tangible evidence against him/he