Current trend of public is to malign judges with baseless allegations: Allahabad High Court imposes ₹10k cost on litigant

The Allahabad High Court recently observed that there is a current trend on the part of general public to overawe judges by complaining and maligning them by levelling baseless allegations [Mohd. Sarfaraz v Mohd. Abid & Ors.]..Single-judge justice JJ Munir made the observation while dismissing a transfer application which raised allegations against the presiding officer of the trial court. "The allegations that have been levelled against the presiding officer in the trial court are reflective of the current trend in the society where the general public have developed the mind set to overawe judges by complaining and maligning them on baseless allegations," the Court said in its order.The Court also imposed a cost of ₹10,000 on the petitioner with a direction to deposit the same in the account of District Services Legal Authority, Bijnore within 15 days..The plea before the Court sought transfer of the applicant's civil case from the Court of Civil Judge (Jr. Division), Nagina, Bijnore to any other Court of competent jurisdiction in the Judgeship of Bijnore.The applicant alleged that the presiding officer was under the influence of respondent. It was further alleged that one Shubham Jain, the Parokar (advocate) of the respondents visited the trial judge and the counsel representing the respondent was with the judge for 15 minutes in his chamber while the Parokar guarded the gate.It was further argued by applicant that no written statement has been filed till date and there seemed no possibility of the trial being concluded in the near future.The applicant had first moved to District Judge, who after perusal of the material on record did not find any merit and rejected the applicant's plea seeking transfer, via order dated August 3, 2022. Therefore, the applicant approached High Court for the same relief..The bench opined that such a trend of accusing judges and putting out frivolous allegations against them should be put down with a heavy hand."The allegations disclosed on affidavit in the present transfer application are so frivolous that they are only stated to be rejected. Such tendencies are required to be put down with a heavy hand," the bench observed.Applicant was represented by advocate Pawan Kumar..[Read Order]