People who lose faith in judiciary are required to be condemned: Himachal Pradesh High Court

People who lose faith in the judiciary are required to be condemned and curbed with strong hands, the Himachal Pradesh High Court observed while dismissing a plea to quash an order of the State Road Transport Corporation (Deepak Raj Sharma v. State of Himachal Pradesh)..A Division Bench of Justices Tarlok Singh Chauhan and Satyen Vaidya held,"To protect the faith of the people in the independence of the judiciary developed, established, accepted by a consistent tradition from time immemorial, is the avowed duty of every one of us, especially of Lawyers, Judges, Legislators and the Executives.Faith in judiciary are the facets of the judicial administration to which they contributed substantially. It is essential to maintain faith of common masses in the judiciary, failing which it would lose its respect and esteem.".The plea was moved by a driver whose services were withdrawn by the Corporation. He had approached the Court seeking a direction to the respondents to allow him to continue his duties of in-charge driver.Counsel for respondents argued that petitioner's conduct towards his colleagues was not good, and complaints were received against him from the Unions, specifically by the Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS). Hence, his services as in-charge driver were withdrawn..At the outset, the Bench observed that this was yet another case of employees associations/unions effecting non-consensual transfers of employees despite repeated orders of the Court.The Bench placed reliance on its judgment in Amit Kumar and Ors. vs. Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board & Ors in which it was held,"Therefore, we make it absolutely clear that henceforth the Boards, Corporation or any other institutions, falling under the definition of the ‘State’ under article 12 and 226 of the Constitution of India, shall not entertain much less consider and decide recommendations made by any of the Employees’ Associations or Unions for non-consensual transfers of its employees in the State of Himachal Pradesh and any Employees’ Associations or Unions in the State of Himachal Pradesh resorting to such practice shall, in addition to any other action, be liable to be derecognized and disqualified for all intents and purposes.".It was also noted that the petitioner himself had tried to pull strings and involved various unions including the Drivers & Conductors Union as a shield to sub-serve his own purpose. This fact, the Court said, indicates that he doesn't have faith in the judicial system."Not only that, the petitioner had on 15.08.2019 met with the President, Bhartiya Janta Party, Mandi and requested that he may be posted on the Drivers Duty (Annexure R-4), which clearly goes to indicate that the petitioner has no faith in judicial system," the order noted..Terming the conduct of the petitioner as deplorable, the Court held,"In such circumstances, the conduct of the petitioner, to say the least, is deplorable. The people, who lose faith in the judiciary, are required to be condemned and curbed with strong hands by one and all, who are interested in the orderly society...".The Court thus dismissed the petition and reiterated on a parting note,"However, before parting, we once again reiterate and make it absolutely clear that henceforth the Corporation shall not entertain much less consider and decide or act on such recommendations made by any of the Employees' Unions for non-consensual transfer of the employees of the Corporation and, in case, any of these Unions resorted to such misadventure, in addition to taking any other action including Contempt of the Courts, these Unions/Associations will be de-recognised and disqualified for all intent and purposes.".Senior Advocate Ajay Sharma and Advocate Athrav Sharma appeared for the petitioner.Advocate General Ashok Sharma, Additional Advocates General Rajinder Dogra, Vinod Thakur and Hemanshu Misra, and Deputy Advocate General Bhupinder Thakur appeared for the respondents..[Read Order]