Supreme Court dismisses appeal against J&K High Court verdict which refused to quash termination of judicial officer

The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a special leave petition (SLP) against an order of the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir & Ladakh which refused to quash the termination of a judicial officer who was involved in facilitating the evasion of stamp duty to the tune of ₹32 lakh. [Javid Ahmad Naik v. State of J&K & Ors].A Bench of Chief Justice of India UU Lalit and Justice Bela M Trivedi refused to intervene in the matter.Senior Advocate Sanjay Hegde represented the petitioner, Javid Ahmad Naik. .The High Court had, in its judgment pronounced on June 28, observed that judges' conduct must always be above any suspicion, since the very nature of their job requires a higher standard of integrity."We may hasten to reiterate the proposition that the Judges, like Caesar's wife, must be above suspicion. Having regard to the nature of duties, the judicial officer is supposed to perform, a higher standard of honesty, integrity and probity is expected from a judicial officer. The Judges are not like other Government employees, but hold high public office of trust and, therefore, should have sterling quality of integrity and unimpeachable character. It is in this light, the conduct of a judicial officer is to be gauged," the judgment had stated..The decision was rendered in a plea filed by judge Javid Ahmad Naik, challenging his dismissal as well as the enquiry report and show cause notice issued by the Court proposing his removal from services.Naik was appointed as a munsiff in the year 2003. In January 2011, he was nominated as the jurisdictional duty magistrate during the winter vacation..The High Court had found no merit in the contentions of the petitioner and said that he cannot be absolved merely because the complaint, which became the basis of initiation of the inquiry against him, may have been filed with a person of doubtful integrity.The Court had held that the inquiry officer was purely justified in holding the judicial officer guilty of serious misconduct and, therefore, dismissed the petition..Advocates Shahbaz Ahmad Naik, Javid Ahmad Naik, Tasaduq Hussain, and Milind Kumar also represented the petitioner. [Read order].Judges, like Caesar's wife, must be above suspicion: Jammu & Kashmir High Court refuses to quash termination of Judicial Officer