Tripura HC upholds removal of judicial officer influencing central minister for transfer

Upholding the order discharging a probationary judicial officer for approaching a Union Minister for transfer recommendation and making a false statement in connection with his overstay of leave.

A division bench of Justices T Amarnath Goud and Justice Biswajit Patil rejected petitioner Koushik Karmakar’s claim that he had not approached the Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Pratima Bhoumik for recommending his transfer.

However, the Court found that Karmakar in May 2022 had made a prayer before the Registrar General of the High Court for his transfer to Agartala on the grounds of ill health of his parents.

Soon after the full court turned down Karmakar’s request, the High Court received a letter from the Union Minister requesting consideration of his transfer, the Court noted.

“After proper perusal of the conduct of the petitioner in approaching before the Registry of this Court for his transfer and thereafter issuance of a letter by a central minister recommending his transfer inspires high suspicious in the mind of this Court that the letter was issued without the petitioner approaching a Minister and the same was 'Act of God’,” the bench said.

The Court also rejected the petitioner’s assertion that someone to defame him had played a “game behind the back” and called the submission hypothetical. The Court found the conduct of the petitioner unbecoming of a judicial officer and concluded that he had not been able to prove his innocence on this point.

Karmakar was appointed in November 2020 as a Grade-III Judicial Officer.

In November 2022, a Full Court of the High Court recommended his discharge from service. The State government accepted the recommendation in December 2022. Karmakar challenged the decision last year.