Labour court judge sacked for malpractices

Ahmedabad: A labour court judge, Amrish Trivedi, has lost his job for pronouncing judgment in an open court on the day he was officially on leave. Another reason for his sacking by the Gujarat high court was that he had least six judgments typed in offices of advocates involved in litigation.
Trivedi was forced to retire in November 2009 by the administrative wing of the high court. The state also issued the notification for
his removal for his conduct, deemed unbecoming of a judicial officer. Last week, a division bench of the high court upheld Trivedi’s removal.
Trivedi was appointed as labour court judge in 1994, and served in Jamnagar from 1997 to 2001. During that stint, the high court began receiving strange complaints. On getting one such complaint, a departmental inquiry was instituted in December 2001 and he was charged with having the judgment typed outside the court, as the stenographer was on leave. Moreover, he also pronounced the judgment in the open court on June 4, 2001 — official records showed that he was on leave for three days between June 3 and 5.
As for Trivedi’s use of computers in private advocates’ offices, the malpractice was inferred as no judicial officer was allotted computers during the period in question. Trivedi said that he was practising on a computer and typing orders on a machine gifted to him by his younger brother. But he was accused of using unauthorized facilities to favour some advocates.
Finally, Trivedi was found guilty by the inquiry officer of indulging in corrupt practices and of dereliction in discharging his judicial functions. The report against Trivedi was submitted to the high court in 2004, and the authorities came to a tentative conclusion about punishment. But his explanation was sought first.
Trivedi explained his position, but the high court did not find his version believable and accepted the inquiry report. In August 2009, he was made to resign by the registrar general.