Are trial courts only paper tigers? Bihar judge accuses Principal Judge of shielding DM, SP

An Additional District and Sessions Judge (A&DSJ) in Bihar's Begusarai recently accused the Principal District and Sessions Judge (PD&SJ) of interfering in an execution petition against the District Magistrate (DM) and Superintendent of Police (SP).

In a scathing order passed on November 17, A&DSJ Brajesh Kumar Singh said that PD&SJ Rishi Kant recalled the case from his court after he recommended contempt proceedings against the DM and SP of Begusarai over their failure to comply with the court orders.

Singh said that Kant had recalled the case without any application from either of the parties in the case or any report from him.

The judge went on to observe that Kant may have passed the "hasty" recall order on "personal knowledge" without even looking at the case records, as the entire file was in the A&DSJ court.

"The Ld. Principal District and Sessions Judge, Begusarai has palpably passed the order in the interest of so-called 'administration', however, section 24 of CPC is conspicuously silent about transfer on the ground of so-called 'administration'. It is trite that power of the Principal District and Sessions Judge u/s-24 of the CPC can not be exercised 'at his whims and fancies'. It is well established that every such order of transfer must be based on sound judicial principles, which principles are conspicuously absent in the present order of transfer. The alternative phrase "of its own motion" used in section 24 of the CPC cannot be equated with the pleasure' of Principal District and Sessions Judge. Ld. Principal District and Sessions Judge, Begusarai has no absolute power to transfer the case when the transferor court is at the stage of concluding the proceedings in the case," judge Singh added.

Singh added that by transferring the case at the end stage, the Principal District and Sessions Judge violated the principle of judicial independence, a principle every judge has sworn to protect.

"By passing the order of transfer, Ld. Principal District and Sessions Judge has made the judiciary a matter of laughing stocks in as much as the judges of sub-ordinate judiciary appear to be only paper tigers, having no order passed by them has got binding effect on mighty and powerful bureaucrats," he wrote further.

Singh said that that D&SJ's decision to transfer the case out of his court had dampened his morale.

"Truly speaking, my morale is badly dampened by seeing as to how the water is thrown at the entire efforts of this court by sheer this transfer. No judge would ever dare to pass order against the mighty bureaucrats like D.Ms and S.Ps, and then why only poor should be subjected to coercive orders of the court for non-compliance, when mighty bureaucrats are made absolutely immune from judicial process in the lower judiciary. In my opinion, the transfer b y Ld. Principal District and Sessions Judge, Begusarai was made to shield the D.M., Begusarai and S.P, Begusarai from contempt proceeding."

Singh also revealed that Kant had interfered in the matter earlier too. The judge, thus, proceeded to withdraw from the case.

"Nevertheless, let the justice be done in this case. I am withdrawing from this case as mandated by the aforesaid transfer by Ld. Principal District and Sessions Judge, Begusarai, but I have no regrets," he wrote.

The case at hand is an execution petition for payment of over ₹11 Lakh rupees from the authorities awarded to the petitioner in August 2023. The petitioner's guardian had died in an accident caused by a police vehicle. Judge Singh had been hearing the case since the beginning of this year.

[Read Order]