Supreme Court to hear petition challenging promotion of 68 Gujarat judges

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 5

The Supreme Court will take up next week a petition challenging promotion granted to 68 Gujarat lower judicial officers, including Surat Chief Judicial Magistrate Harish Hasmukhbhai Varma who convicted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a defamation case.

CJM who convicted Rahul elevated too

Petitioners have challenged the promotion of 68 judicial officers on the ground that it was allegedly done disregarding the ‘merit-cum-seniority principle’

Petitioners Ravikumar Maheta and Sachin Prataprai Mehta -- senior civil judges – have challenged the promotion of the 68 judicial officers alleging it was done “disregarding the merit-cum-seniority principle”.

A Bench led by Justice MR Shah posted the petition for hearing next week. Surat CJM Varma had convicted Rahul in a defamation case leading to his disqualification as an MP while Mehta is 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 had issued notices to the state government and the Registrar General of the Gujarat High Court on April 13 in the matter and had expressed displeasure over the April 18 order to promote the 68 officers despite 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 has issued the promotion order dated April 18, 2023, after the receipt of the notice issued by this court in the present proceedings,” the top court had said on April 28.

In the promotion order, even the state government stated that it would be subject to the outcome of the proceedings pending in the top court, it said. “We do not appreciate the haste and hurry in which the state has approved and passed the promotion order… when this court was seized with the matter and a detailed order was passed while issuing the notice,” it had said.

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