Twelve district judges in Jharkhand were given compulsory retirement on Saturday (August 12) by the state government on the recommendation of the Jharkhand High Court, for their “dubious conduct”.

This government action was as per a notification of the high court, say media reports.

Nidhi Khare, secretary of personnel and administrative reforms of the state was quoted in the media as saying: “The judicial officers were marked by the high court for their dubious conduct and, on the issue of probity. They were given compulsory retirement.” As per rule, she said, the judges were given three months’ salary and reimbursements as compensation.

The 12 tainted judges forced into retirement are: District and Additional Sessions Judges Anil Kumar Singh (Lohardaga), Girish Chandra Singh (Daltonganj), Girijest Kumar Dubey (Garhwa), Om Prakash Srivastav (Pakur), Rajesh Kumar Pandey (Latehar) and Umeshanand Mishra (Latehar); Chief Judicial Magistrates Ram Jiyavan (Chaibasa) and Ramjit Yadav (Sahibganj); Ashok Kumar Singh, secretary of District Legal Services Authority in Garhwa; Arun Kumar Gupta, number 2 principal judge of family court in Godda; Rajnandan Rai, presiding officer at labour court in Hazaribag; Yashwant Kumar Sahi, district and additional session’s judge-cum-special judge of fast track court (rape cases), Garhwa.

–India Legal Bureau