Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has censured a magistrate for failing to comply with a 2021 high court order expediting trial in a case, noting that the magistrate has made “feeble excuses” for the non-compliance.
The court observed that the magistrate presiding over a Navi Mumbai judicial magistrate’s court paid scant respect to HC directives and that it seemed that the magistrate was not serious in doing her work. It added that the magistrate had given only excuses for not completing the trial in a matrimonial dispute case within the stipulated period.
“We are unable to accept the feeble excuses given by the Judicial Officer in not complying with the directions issued by this court and paying scant respect to it. It appears to us that the Judicial Officer is not serious in performing her judicial work,” a bench of Justices Ajey Gadkari and Neela Gokhale said on August 9. The detailed order copy was made available on Tuesday.
The court has directed that the issue, including the magistrate’s report, be placed before the Administrative Committee of the high court for appropriate directions.
The HC was hearing a petition filed by a man, who was booked in a cruelty and dowry harassment case registered by his estranged wife, pointing out that despite the HC expediting the trial in 2021, the magistrate has not concluded the trial.
In February 2021, the HC while hearing a discharge plea filed by the man, the HC had directed the magistrate to expedite the trial and conclude the same within four months. He had then withdrawn his plea.
However, as the trial is yet to conclude, he once again approached the HC. The court had called for a report from the magistrate stating the reasons for not complying with the 2021 directions.
The magistrate’s report of August 9 claimed that the matter came up for hearing before her only in January 2023 and at the time, the clerk did not point out to her that the case was made time bound by HC. She further claimed that she was dealing with a huge pendency of decade long cases and that she has to give attention to each and every matter on priority basis. The report further blamed insufficient staff as a reason for not complying with the HC order. The magistrate sought six months time to complete the trial.
Unsatisfied with the excuses, the HC noted that even though the matter came up for hearing in 2023, the magistrate did not adopt necessary steps for expeditious disposal of the case.
