Supreme Court questions Rajasthan HC decision to downgrade judge's performance report

The Supreme Court on Thursday questioned the basis on which the Annual Performance Appraisal Report (APAR) of Rajasthan judicial officer Rakesh Goyal was downgraded despite favourable assessment by the judges who had directly supervised him.

A Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana was hearing an appeal by the Rajasthan High Court's administrative side against a May 2026 judgment of the High Court which had expunged adverse remarks in Goyal’s APAR for 2010.

During the hearing, the Supreme Court asked whether a High Court Chief Justice, who was not supervising the judicial officer when the relevant assessments were made, could depart from the views of the district judge and other supervising judges without a stronger basis.

“Would it not require a much higher standard to downgrade the finding of the District Judge or the Administrative Judge?” the apex court asked.

The Bench also questioned the High Court’s reliance on an allegation which, it was told, had already been dropped.

“Is that charge true? It has been dropped. You are again resurrecting something which your administration has dropped,” the Court remarked.

The Supreme Court eventually asked the Rajasthan High Court to produce the original records containing the Chief Justice’s remarks so that it could examine the matter.

Goyal was appointed as a Civil Judge in 2002.

For Part I of his 2010 APAR, the Reporting Officer had graded him “Good”, but the Chief Justice subsequently assessed him as “Average”.

For Part II, the District Judge certified his integrity and stated that his general reputation for honesty was good, while the Chief Justice recorded his integrity as “doubtful”.

In May, a Division Bench of the Rajasthan High Court found no material justifying the adverse integrity remark. It also noticed that entries concerning two different periods under two different Chief Justices appeared in the same ink and writing and were recorded in 2012. The High Court said this appeared to disclose “serious manipulation” of Goyal’s service record.

The High Court ultimately directed that Goyal’s 2010 APAR be read as “Good”, his integrity as “not doubtful”, and that he receive consequential benefits.

Senior Advocate Virendra Lodha had appeared for the Rajasthan High Court and sought to rely on Goyal’s earlier service record, including an allegation concerning an application for a petrol pump while he was serving as a judicial officer.

[Read Live Coverage]