After Supreme Court order, Allahabad High Court Justice Prashant Kumar to sit in Division Bench

The Allahabad High Court on Monday announced a change in its roster, as per which Justice Prashant Kumar, who has been at the centre of a controversy following Supreme Court's August 4 order, will sit as part of a Division Bench headed by Justice Arindam Sinha.

The roster change was effected after the Supreme Court Bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan on reconsideration of the August 4 order did not delete a key paragraph that instructed the Chief Justice of the High Court to “immediately withdraw the present criminal determination” from the judge.

Following a controversy over Supreme Court's order, the bench had deleted critical remarks against Justice Kumar and also the direction that he not be assigned any criminal matters till he demits office.

This order, particularly the direction for removal of criminal law work from Justice Kumar until his retirement, drew criticism from within both the Supreme Court and the Allahabad High Court.

At least 13 judges of the High Court wrote to Chief Justice Arun Bhansali urging him to convene a full court meeting and resist the Supreme Court’s directives against Justice Kumar. Interestingly, the letter was authored by Justice Sinha, who will now sit with Justice Kumar.

The August 4 order was passed while allowing a special leave petition filed by M/S Shikhar Chemicals challenging a May 2025 order by Justice Kumar. By the May order, the High Court judge had dismissed a petition seeking the quashing of criminal proceedings arising from a commercial transaction.

While remanding the matter for reconsideration by a different judge, the Supreme Court had strongly criticised Justice Kumar’s reasoning. It expressed shock at his conclusion that civil disputes could be pursued through criminal prosecution because civil suits “take years to conclude”.

Following the controversy, the top court last week re-listed the matter to reconsider the directions. The same was done on the request of Chief Justice of India BR Gavai.

In its August 8 order, the bench then clarified that it had no intention to “cause embarrassment or cast aspersions on the concerned judge” and reiterated that the judiciary must protect its institutional dignity.

“It is not just a matter of error or mistake committed by the Judge concerned in appreciating the legal points or facts. We were concerned about the appropriate direction to be issued in the interest of justice and with a view to protecting the honour and dignity of the institution,” the Court said.

Although it deleted its earlier directions in paragraphs 25 and 26 of the August 4 order, it reaffirmed that the judiciary must step in when the rule of law is undermined.

“When matters raise institutional concerns affecting the rule of law, this Court may be compelled to step in and take corrective steps,” the Bench had said.

The Court also reiterated that the Chief Justice of the High Court is the master of the roster and that its directions were not meant to interfere with that administrative power.

Hence, it left it to the Chief Justice of the High Court to look into the matter.

"While we are deleting paras 25 and 26 respectively from our order dated 04th August, 2025, we leave it to the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court to look into the matter," the top court said, potentially leaving the application of paragraph 24 to the discretion of the Chief Justice of the High Court.

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