NEW DELHI: Challenging adverse remarks made against him by the Delhi High Court while setting aside one of his divorce judgments, a Delhi judge has approached the Supreme Court.
The matter arises from a judgment delivered by Harish Kumar, a family court judge at the Patiala House Courts. He had granted a divorce in a matrimonial dispute by treating cross-petitions seeking dissolution as deemed consent under Section 13(B) of the Hindu Marriage Act, instead of adjudicating them on contested grounds.
The dispute reached the Delhi High Court in an appeal. The high court allowed the appeal, set aside the decree earlier passed by Judge Kumar, and made sharp remarks against him.
On Wednesday, a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta agreed to examine whether the strictures were warranted. However, it refused to stay the critical remarks for the time being.
“He was exercising Article 142 powers (conferred only on the Supreme Court) while sitting as a district judge,” the top court remarked while issuing notice on Kumar’s plea.
The Supreme Court initially declined to intervene, but eventually agreed to examine the issue and issued notice. Declining to stay the high court’s critical remarks, the court observed that the high court had merely directed Kumar to undertake a refresher course.