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In Re: Order of Punjab and Haryana High Court dated 17.07.2024 and Ancillary Issues

Not available · 2024 INSC 594Decided 7 Aug 2024
Not available
Chief Justice Dr D.Y. Chandrachud · Justice Sanjiv Khanna · Justice B.R. Gavai · Justice Surya Kant · Justice Hrishikesh Roy

Background

While hearing a contempt petition (Naurty Ram v. Devender Singh IAS), a Single Judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court made certain gratuitous public observations about the Supreme Court that were seen as undermining its authority and dignity; a video of these remarks also circulated widely. A Division Bench of the High Court itself took suo motu notice and stayed the Single Judge's order, but the Supreme Court additionally took up the matter on its own motion given the seriousness of the affront to judicial hierarchy.

Decision Breakdown

The Constitution Bench held that judicial discipline requires every court, irrespective of its own view on the merits of a superior court's order, to comply with and respect that order without personal grievance: "judges are never aggrieved by an order passed by a higher.. forum." It found the Single Judge's remarks about the Supreme Court wholly unnecessary and capable of causing serious harm to public confidence in the judiciary, especially given live-streaming and wide media circulation of court proceedings. The Court declined to issue notice to or initiate any inquiry against the Single Judge personally, but formally expunged the offending observations from the High Court's order and cautioned that greater restraint must be exercised in the future.

Lesson Learnt

Even judges are bound by the hierarchical discipline of the judicial system: a court lower in the hierarchy cannot make unnecessary public remarks criticising a higher court's orders, and the Supreme Court will act, even suo motu, to protect the institutional dignity of the judiciary when that discipline is breached.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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