JUDGMENT :

A.K. JAYASANKARAN NAMBIAR, J.

“If in every case where an order of a subordinate court is found to be faulty a disciplinary action were to be initiated, the confidence of the subordinate judiciary will be shaken and the officers will be in constant fear of writing a judgment so as not to face a disciplinary enquiry and thus judicial officers cannot act independently or fearlessly.”

[Ishwar Chand Jain vs. High Court of Punjab and Haryana and Another, (1988) 3 SCC 370]

1. The appellant before us is the Principal District and Sessions Judge at Kozhikode, and he is aggrieved by the judgment dated 01.09.2022 of a learned Single Judge who dismissed his writ petition that impugned an order transferring him from the post of Principal District and Sessions Judge, Kozhikode to the post of Presiding Officer, Labour Court, Kollam.

2. The appellant states that he was posted as the Principal District and Sessions Judge at Kozhikode with effect from 01.06.2022 and that, contrary to clause 3 and 4 of the extant transfer norms, that stipulated that a judicial officer would not ordinarily be transferred from a station before he completed three years therein unless such transfer was warranted in