Patna: The Patna high court Thursday “suspended” the court’s single judge order criticising of the State judiciary.
A single judge bench of Patna high court comprising of justice Rakesh Kumar, had, in his detailed order passed on Wednesday, expressed his concerns over alleged casteism and corruption in the high court and the entire judicial system. He had also made some adverse remarks against judges who have retired or passed away.
Justice Kumar had passed the order while taking suo motu cognisance of grant of bail to retired IAS officer K P Ramaiah by a vigilance court here, a year after he had turned down the anticipatory bail plea of the former bureaucrat, who is an accused in a corruption case.
An 11-judge bench of the Patna High Court led by chief justice AP Sahi, in an unprecedented action, on Thursday has suspended the order passed by justice Kumar and held that the order passed on Wednesday was ” an attack on judicial hierarchy, judicial integrity and majesty of the court”.
The advocate general of Bihar, Lalit Kishor, has said, “Taking a serious note of the matter, chief justice A P Sahi constituted a bench comprising 11 judges which today took a grim view of the single judge order and suspended it observing that it was tantamount to an attack on judicial hierarchy, judicial integrity and majesty of the court.”
“The bench also ruled that the contents of the single judge order shall not be communicated anywhere” and that “the order of the 11-judge bench will be kept with the chief justice on the administrative side for further line of action”, he added.
Earlier, the chief justice has come out with a notice that “all the matters pending before justice Rakesh Kumar, sitting singly including tied up/part heard or otherwise stand withdrawn with immediate effect”.
