Following Complaint Against Justice Mary Joseph, Kerala HC Issues Guidelines Regarding Use Of Chambers And Uploading Of Judgments Post Retirement Of Judges

The Kerala High Court has issued guidelines regarding the use of Chambers and the signing and uploading of judgements by Judges after their retirement. The guidelines have been issued by the Chief Justice of the High Court, as per the notification issued today by the Registrar General of the High Court.

Earlier, the President of the Kerala High Court Advocates' Association (KHCAA), Advocate Yeshwanth Shenoy had written to the Chief Justice of the High Court alleging that Justice Mary Joseph, who retired on June 2, is continuing to visit her chambers even after retirement. He had also alleged that the retired judge was being given access to case files to facilitate writing of judgments even after retirement.

"The Honourable the Chief Justice, on finding it imperative to have some guidelines in place in the matter of signing/uploading of Judgments/Orders by the time the Honourable Judges relinquishing charge in the event of retirement/transfer/elevation and as to the use of Chambers/retention of attached Staff, has issued the following guidelines", says the notification issued today by the Registrar General.

The guidelines say that Judges are "requested to refrain from using the Chambers after the date of their retirement". It further says that the staff attached to the Judge shall hand over all case records to the Registry before 4.30 pm on the 3rd working day after the date of retirement of the Judge. It also says that in case of elevation or transfer of a Judge, the Judge can retain the Chambers for such period as accepted by the Chief Justice.

With respect to signing or uploading of judgments post retirement, the guidelines say, "To avoid unnecessary challenges as to the validity of the Judgments/Orders delivered/signed/uploaded on the website of High Court on the retirement/transfer/elevation, the Hon'ble Judges are requested to hand over the signed Judgments/orders of all the reserved cases to the Registry on or before the last working day or at any rate, by midnight of the date of retirement. If any Judgments/Orders are not ready by that time, all those cases are also to be handed over to the Registry, for placing it before the Bench concerned."

The guidelines further say that no staff of the High Court should upload any Judgment/Orders after 3 working days from the date of the retirement of the Judge. "The Registrar (Computerisation)-cum-Director (IT), High Court will make necessary changes in the System to ensure that Judgments/Orders of the Hon'ble Judges are not uploaded after 3 days from the date of retirement of the Hon'ble Judge", the new guidelines say.

The new guidelines also say that Judges may retain the attached staff, except co-terminus Sevaks, for a period of one month and for further periods as approved by the Chief Justice, on the request of the Judge.

In his complaint to the Chief Justice last week, Advocate Shenoy had said, "I am bringing your attention to the IT systems of this Hon’ble Court which has not yet deactivated the access given to Justice Mary Joseph and her staff. In every organization, the IT access is deactivated at the same moment the person retires. Thankfully, IT systems leave trails and it can be investigated and personal accountability can be affixed on the basis of those trails. I request your Lordship to immediately order the IT Registrar to immediately deactivate access given to Justice Mary Joseph and her staff and call for a report of all activities including uploading of Judgments carried out after 2 June 2024". 

Earlier this week, Shenoy had written a letter to the Chief Justice of India seeking an enquiry by the CBI against Justice Mary Joseph alleging that convicts in NDPS cases were released based on release orders even though the Judge had not released judgments till retirement. 

The KHCAA had boycotted the official farewell function for Justice Mary Joseph.