Judicial Analysis Court Copy Headnote Facts Arguments Court observation

2025 Supreme(Guj) 1771

IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
A.S. Supehia, R. T. Vachhani, JJ.
Atul Trikambhai Kanani – Petitioner
Versus
State Of Gujarat & Anr. – Respondents
R/Special Civil Application No. 18969 of 2017, R/Special Civil Application No. 21171 of 2017, R/Special Civil Application No. 21172 of 2017
Decided On : 04-09-2025

Advocates Appeared:For the Petitioner:Mr Vaibhav A Vyas For the Respondent:Mr Aakash Gupta, Agp, Mr Shalin Mehta, Senior Advocate with Mr Hamesh C Naidu

Compulsory retirement of Judicial Officers can proceed based on performance assessment; requires no personal discretion from the Governor, acting under constitutional provisions and rules.

Headnote:(A) Gujarat State Judicial Service Rules, 2005 - Rule 21 and Article 163 of the Constitution of India - Compulsory retirement of Judicial Officers - The Notification dated 30.09.2016 issued by the State Government for compulsory retirement of the petitioners was based on findings of a Committee evaluating performance as 'poor' in disposals over the last five years. The petitioners contended the Notification was without authority as it was purportedly issued without the Governor’s direct examination of the recommendations from the High Court. The court reaffirmed that the Governor acts under advice of the Council of Ministers, maintaining the legality of the Notification as per the Rules and Articles cited. Court emphasized the assessment of Judicial Officers based on their performance records and reiterated that compulsory retirement does not imply punishment. (Paras 12 to 33)

(B) Judicial Management - High Court’s authority in assessing Judicial Officers’ performance - The exercise of evaluation regarding the performance of judicial officers should align with the dual principles of maintaining public confidence in the judiciary and ensuring judicial accountability. Such evaluation is justified and should not be subject to undue judicial interference unless the decision is shown to be mala fide or arbitrary. (Paras 28 to 31)

Table of Content
1. facts of the petitions concerning compulsory retirement of judicial officers. (Para 1 , 2 , 3)
2. petitioners challenge the authority behind retirement notification. (Para 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10)
3. court's examination of statutory authority and proper procedures. (Para 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28)
4. principles governing judicial review and compulsory retirement. (Para 29 , 30 , 31 , 32)
5. conclusion on the dismissal of the writ petitions. (Para 33)

JUDGMENT :

A.S. SUPEHIA, J.

1. The present group of petitions emanates from the Notification dated 30.09.2016 passed by the Legal Department compulsorily retiring the petitioners, who were serving as Judicial Officers in the State of Gujarat. The name of the respective petitioners’ figure at Sr. Nos.4, 3, and 1 of the Notification.

2. The facts of the petitioners are as under:-

Sr. No.	Case No.	Date of Special Constituted Committee’s Report	Date of Chamber Meeting Decision	Date of the impugned Notification	Age of the petitioner at the time of the Notification	Date of Order on the Review Application	Remarks
1	SCA No.18969 of 2017 Mr.Atul Trikambhai Kanani	01.04.2016	14.07.2016	30.09.2016	52 years, 8 months (Calculated as per D.O.B.)	N.A.	It was found that the grading for disposals were becoming poorer, from Adequate to Just Adequate to Poor especially in the last five years (Page No.39)
2	SCA No.21171 of 2017 Mr.Shakilah med Abdulsattar Shaikh	01.04.2016	14.07.2016	30.09.2016	53 years, 3 months (Calculated as per D.O.B.)	N.A.	It was found that the grading for disposals were becoming poorer, from Adequate to Just Adequate to Poor especially in the last five years (Page No.54)
3.	SCA No.21172 of 2017 Mr.Jaykant N. Dave	01.04.2016	14.07.2016	30.09.2016	51 years, 8 months (Calculated as per D.O.B.)	N.A.	It was found that the grading for disposals were becoming poorer, from Adequate to Just Adequate to Poor especially in the last five years (Page No.57)

3. The exercise of evaluation of the potential of the Judicial Officers in the entire Country before attaining the age of 50 years or 55 years was undertaken in view of the communication dated 14.10.2008 written by the Hon’ble the Chief Justice of India to all the High Courts. Accordingly, the High Court on the administrative side undertook an exercise for examining the performance of the Judicial Officers of the State of Gujarat by verifying the service records, such as Annual Confidential Reports, disposals, complaints, vigilance complaints and departmental inquiry etc. and accordingly, the Committee of three Hon’ble High Court Judges was formed, which had undertaken the necessary exercise of verification of the service records, and ultimately, the Committee filed its reports, wherein it was found that 17 Judicial Officers, including the present petitioners, were required to be prematurely retired. The Committee submitted its report dated 01.04.2016, before the Chamber, and the Chamber Meeting was held on 14.07.2016, and the Report of the Committee was accepted, and accordingly, the names of 17 Judicial Officers including the petitioners, were recommended to the State Government to retire them prematurely under the provisions of Rule 21 of the Gujarat State Judicial Service Rules, 2005 (for short, “the Rules of 2005”) by giving three months’ pay in lieu of notice. The said recommendations were accepted, and the Governor approved the same, and ultimately, it culminated into the issuance of Notification dated 30.09.2016 approving recommendations of the High Court for prematurely retiring the petitioners from service.

SUBMISSIONS MADE ON BEHALF OF PETITIONERS :

4. Learned advocate Mr.Vaibhav Vyas, appearing for the petitioners, has submitted that the impugned Notification dated 30.09.2016 is without authority of law, since the same was passed on the recommendation made by the High Court to the Government of Gujarat and not to the Governor. He has referred to the provisions of Ru