In a major ruling, the Allahabad High Court has reinstated six probationary judicial officers who were dismissed following an altercation at a dinner in 2014. The court found that their termination was “stigmatic” and should have been preceded by a formal inquiry.
The Full Bench, comprising Justices Jaspreet Singh, Manish Mathur, and Subhash Vidyarthi, set aside the termination orders issued in 2014 and 2015, ruling that the judicial trainees had been unfairly dismissed without due process. The court ordered their immediate reinstatement, with their continued service to be determined through the proper confirmation process.
The judges noted that 15 trainee officers were involved in the incident, which allegedly stemmed from a dispute concerning a female colleague. A discreet inquiry led to their dismissal, but the court emphasized that no proper evaluation of their overall performance had been conducted.
The ruling underscored that an order of termination based on specific misconduct—without a full review of work performance—cannot be classified as a simple discharge. The court deemed the dismissals arbitrary and in violation of constitutional protections under Article 311(2) and Article 14.
This decision paves the way for the six reinstated officers—Sudhir Mishra, Asha Ram Pandey, Akhilesh Kumar Sharma, Ashtosh Tripathi, Mukesh Kumar, and Himanshu Mishra—to resume their roles, with their future tenure subject to official confirmation.
