'Should act as parents to judicial officers': SC tells Jharkhand HC to grant relief to judge

New Delhi, Aug 22 (PTI) Observing high courts ought to act as “parents” for their judicial officers, the Supreme Court on Friday asked the Jharkhand High Court to either allow a single parent woman judicial officer to either remain in Hazaribagh or be transferred to Bokaro keeping in mind her son’s upcoming Class 12 exams.

“The high courts have to alive to the problems of their judicial officers,” a bench comprising Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran said while taking note of the plea of an additional district judge (ADJ), belonging to the Scheduled Caste category.

The woman judicial officer moved the top court challenging the denial of six months childcare leave request.

She was subsequently transferred to Dumka.

She made a representation before the high court seeking to either continue serving in Hazaribagh or being transferred to Ranchi or Bokaro, claiming there were no good CBSE schools in Dumka.

“The high courts should act as parents to their judicial officers and should not make such issues as ego issues,” the CJI said.

The top court added, “Now you either transfer her to Bokaro or allow her to remain at Hazaribagh at last till March/April, 2026 … I mean till the period when the exams are over,” the bench ordered.

The high court was granted two weeks to comply with the directions.

In May, the top court sought responses from the Jharkhand government and the high court registry on her plea challenging the denial of her childcare leave request.

The woman judicial officer had sought six months' leave from June to December.

According to the Child Care Leave Rules applicable to the judicial officers, the ADJ is entitled to up to 730 days of leave during her service tenure.

Later, she was granted three months leave. PTI SJK SJK AMK AMK