HC: Judges not ‘super robots’, orders not ‘decorative’

Prayagraj: Flagging staggering backlogs in constitutional courts, Allahabad high court has observed that the judges cannot be expected to function as “super robots” while litigants openly treat active judicial commands as optional “decorative pieces of paper”.

Justice Kshitij Shailendra made these remarks while holding the district inspector of schools (DIOS) of Ghazipur, Prakash Singh, guilty of contempt for failing to comply with a four-year-old interim order directing the payment of an employee’s salary.

Rejecting the state’s plea to defer proceedings due to a pending stay vacation application, Justice Kshitij Shailendra delivered a strong defence of the rule of law and the dignity of the judiciary.

The contempt application arose from a writ petition filed in 2017 by the applicant, Radhey Shyam Yadav. On April 18, 2022, the writ court issued a direction the respondent state authorities to pay his salary during the pendency of the petition but the order was not complied with.

Justice Shailendra noted that in heavily burdened constitutional courts like the Allahabad high court, where 400 to 800 cases are listed daily before each judge, proceedings often take years, and sometimes decades, for disposal.

“Still people all around may expect such overburdened judges to become ever-working super robots or super computers or super-human beings? If during such pendency, parties are permitted to openly defy operative directions, the administration of justice would descend into chaos and anarchy. The law does not countenance such audacity,” he added.

In the order dated May 19, the court emphasised that the dignity of the judiciary rests entirely on public confidence and the strict enforcement of its orders, warning against the erosion of constitutional governance.