NEW DELHI: Supreme Court on Thursday said a bus conductor’s right to access to justice is equal to that of a top bureaucrat, and granting out-of-turn hearing to a litigant having the wherewithal to approach the SC would violate the right to speedy justice of millions languishing in the queue.A bench of Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana refused to entertain a plea for expeditious hearing of a petition by an additional district judge challenging his dismissal from service for corruption in 2022. His petition has been pending in Allahabad HC since 2022.
Sacked for taking bribe, can’t allow early hearing: SC
“When we grant early hearing to one litigant who has the resources to approach the SC, we do injustice to millions of litigants who are waiting for a hearing on their petitions,” the bench said.In his plea for a direction to HC for expeditious disposal of his plea, the judge said he has suffered a lot in the last four years and that since his retirement is due on Nov 30, he would like to leave service with dignity.Referring to the pendency of more than 12 lakh cases in Allahabad HC, the bench told the counsel: “You are making a submission which is against the equal right to access to justice of every litigant, be it a bus conductor or a principal secretary. We will not request HC to grant out-of-turn hearing unless we are convinced about egregious circumstances in the case that warrant urgent hearing.”The petitioner is one of the three additional district judges – Ashok Kumar Singh, Himanshu Bhatnagar and Rakesh Kumar Nain – who were dismissed from service on corruption charges through a full court resolution passed by Allahabad HC in May 2022.
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He complained that “no show-cause notice was ever issued to the petitioner and no opportunity was ever afforded to give any representation against the major penalty so imposed upon the petitioner, therefore, the resolution dated May 12, 2022, and the order dated May 17, 2022, by which the services of the petitioner were terminated, was passed in violation of principles of natural justice”.The bench said that as the petitioner has been dismissed from service on charges of acceptance of bribe, it is not a fit case for requesting the HC to grant an out-of-turn hearing.The petitioner, who joined judicial service in Aug 1999 and was promoted as additional district judge in 2013, was accused of taking a Rs 6 lakh bribe to acquit a person in 2015. The inquiry and disciplinary proceedings were concluded in 2022, following which his services were terminated.
