Complaint in case of a judge cannot be about a poor judgment or order. For that,
there is a facility of correction, analysis, or appeal to the higher Judiciary.
So, in what circumstances can people complain against judges? Plausible bad or
irresponsible behaviour of judge include being impolite to other people or
having bad body language, actions or behaviour towards the other person
It can be when a judge is making natural or inconsiderate behaviour in making
irrelevant or insensitive statements or comments which doesn't go by rules of
what judge is expected to do in line with judicial duty. Here it is vital to add
that though India has taken over many provisions and procedural laws from
British, one won't be able to find such clear and complete information on any
formal website within India.
Where and to whom to contact for sending of complaint?
Our past master of various courts has been making complaints as per jurisdiction
below:
- Subordinate Judiciary: Registrar General of the concerned High Court,
District administrative judge
- HC judges: Chief Justice of the concerned High Court
- SC judges: Chief Justice of India
- Chief Justice of HC: Chief Justice of India
For official and formal information: The citizen's charter PDF file obtainable
from the Department of Justice webpage provides various contact information for
grievances. The person could contact them over phone/email to find out directly
how and where to file a complaint about a particular jurisdiction/court
http://doj.gov.in/citizen-charter
Vision: Easing management of Justice that makes sure easy access and well-timed
delivery of Justice to all.
Mission: Making sure adequacy of courts and judges, including servicing of
appointment of Judges to the higher judiciary, modernization of courts and
procedures, policies for judicial reforms and Legal aid to the poor for improved
justice delivery.
The Department of Justice Guidelines has the vital information about
grievances against Judiciary which has been extracted and given below:
- Department of Justice (DOJ) gets a large number of grievances from
citizens through the online CPGRAMS platform and on the email of the officers. DoJ gets
issues from Presidents Secretariat, Vice Presidents Secretariat, PMO, Department
of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances/other Ministries/Departments &
also directly.
While almost all the grievances are regarding Judiciary,
grievances in concern to other Ministries or Departments in the Central
Government and pertaining to the State Governments or the Union Territories are
also addressed to them. The grievances related to Judiciary are addressed by the
Department of Justice, and the grievances related to the other
Departments/Ministries/State Governments/UTs are forwarded to the offices
concerned. The guidelines mentioned below related to the disposal of grievances
in the Department of Justice are transmitted for information/guidance/benefit of
grievance owners.
- Grievances regarding the Judiciary are redirected to the
Secretary-General of the Supreme Court of India or the Registrar General of
the concerned High Court, for further action, as appropriate.
- Any Grievance regarding the verdicts of the Courts is not handled as a
grievance. This kind of grievance holder is suggested to take the proper
legal remedy in the appropriate Court of Law as per rules. Grievances
regarding the verdicts of the Courts will be taken by the Department of
Justice. Grievances concerned with the procedure of the Court or cases
mainly judicial in nature can be handled through the Court of Law only. Such
grievances will be handled by the Department of Justice.
- Grievances in concern with the Judges of SC are redirected to the Chief
Justice of India, and grievances concerned with Judges of the High Courts
are forwarded to CJ of the connected High Courts for appropriate action. (As
the Judiciary is self-sufficient, Government does not ask for steps taken,
nor sends reminders to them. Grievance holders are suggested to get
information from the concerned Courts directly in this matter.
- Disposal of the pending cases in courts is within the sector of the
Judiciary, which is a self-sufficient organ of the State under the
Constitution of India. The Government of India does not obstruct the working
of the Judiciary/proceedings in courts as pendency of a Court Case is a subjudice
matter which is under consideration of the Court
- In a matter of any grievance relating to delay in judgement or not a fair
judgement or miscarriage of Justice, the petitioner is suggested to go for
judicial remedy by making an appeal or any other events
before the appropriate Court of Law within the allotted time limit.
- According to the guidelines made by the SC of India regarding the
grievances/complaints against members of the Subordinate Judiciary, it is
seen that this type of grievances is to be sent along with a duly promised
affidavit and validated material to prove the claims made therein. Such
grievances, along with a sworn affidavit, should be sent directly to the
Registrar General of the concerned High Court.
- Grievances redirected by the Department of Justice are seen and examined
by the Judiciary as per their own system and the system or procedure to deal
with grievances that are generally not shared. In such acts, the Department
of Justice is not in place to inform the outcome to grievance holders.
- Grievance owners are suggested to lodge their grievances on the Public
Grievance Portal [email protected] only. As the Government has introduced the
platform to get grievances online, grievances received by the Department of
Justice on the email I. Ds of officers will not be accepted.
- So, complaints can either be directly sent to the High Court if relevant
or to [email protected], and no complaints should be sent to individual
officers' email ids.
The person having grievance are suggested to send the grievances relating to the
Supreme Court, High Courts directly to them on the below-written mails in order
to dispose of their grievances in a fast manner:
High Court name and email ID
Court PrecedentIn the year 1995 judgment in C Ravichandran Iyer case, the Court had held that
if members of the bar had any material about misconduct or bad conduct of a
judge, they should meet the high court chief justice concerned or the Chief
Justice of India to apprise them of the material against the judge. The apex
court stated that they should wait for a reasonable time period to permit the
administrative head of the High Court or the Supreme Court to take appropriate
steps or action.
In the S Ramaswami 1992 judgment by a five-judge SC bench, headed by Justice J S
Verma, it had said that the issue of whether allegations against a sitting judge
warranted an inquiry, was to be seen by Parliament on permitting a motion for
removal of the judge moved by the requisite number of MPs. However, in the
inquiry, the sitting judge should have full right of defence.
In the case of Sahara Birla Paper, it was seen that the Supreme Court had given
a biased verdict in favour of the Government. An NGO had filed the petition,
consisting of the allegations against the Government. The Court had set aside
the petition and ended the complete issue by stating the lack of evidence to
make the offence in question.
Instead of asking the petitioner to avail the
remedies, the Court adjudicated the matter by declaring the diary entries
inadmissible. In this case, Biasness can be seen through the actions of the
judge by ignoring the evidence, as he had declared the diary inadmissible and
had given the verdict without considering the evidence.
ConclusionThe predisposition of a judge, a legal attorney, or anyone who is related to the
judicial matters, either against or in favour of one of the parties, is known as
judicially biased. A judicial decision is supposed to be free from all kinds of
biasness to be fair and just in its real sense. Judicial biasness can be pointed
out in decision-making, appointments, or remarks made. Biasness is not
theoretically encouraged by the judiciary. Having a just and fair judicial
system is difficult but not impossible, and a country must take all the required
steps in order to ensure that its judicial system is free from all forms of
unfair practices and malicious intentions.
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