The Allahabad High Court recently upheld the departmental action taken against a clerk at the district court in Rampur for misplacing a case file in the office of the Chief Judicial Magistrate in 2005 [Mahaveer Sagar v State of UP and Others]..Justice Anish Kumar Gupta remarked that misplacements of judicial files must be handled with an iron hand.“Misplacement or loss of a judicial file from the record of the judiciary is very serious allegation, which impacts the administration of justice and the same is required to be handled with iron rod,” the judge said..The clerk, Mahaveer Singh, had sought the quashing of disciplinary proceedings initiated against him in 2007. After he was found guilty of misplacing the file of a complaint case, the disciplinary authority had ordered withholding of four of his increments with cumulative effect. His appeal was dismissed by the appellate authority in 2011.Challenging the action, his counsel told the High Court that the inquiry officer illegally held the clerk guilty without ascertaining the actual person responsible for misplacing the file.The High Court administration countered that proper procedure was followed during the inquiry and a proportionate punishment was awarded. It, therefore, urged the Bench not to interfere with the punishment order..The Court found that the enquiry was carried out after giving sufficient opportunity to the clerk and other staff members to trace out the missing file, but the same could not be traced out.“There is no allegation that the petitioner was not given opportunity of hearing at any stage. There is no argument that the punishment awarded to the petitioner is disproportionate to the guilt of the petitioner,” it added.Finding no illegality in the decision, the Court dismissed the plea..Advocate Hariom Kamal Singh appeared for the petitioner (clerk).Advocate Chandan Sharma appeared for the High Court.Standing Counsel Vijay Lal appeared for the State. .[Read Order]
