The Delhi High Court on Monday issued notice to Professor Mrinal Satish and the Delhi Judicial Academy (DJA) on a petition seeking to quash his appointment to the post of Chairperson of the DJA on grounds that he was ineligible for the post.
A Bench of Justice S. Ravindra Bhat and Justice Prateek Jalan also sought response from the Lieutenant-Governor of Delhi and the Registrar General of the High Court on the petition filed by the NGO AGAM.
The petition, filed by advocates Ashutosh Kumar Mishra and Isha Garg, has claimed that the appointment of Mr. Satish was in violation of the prescription under the Delhi Judicial Academy (Appointment, Conditions of Service, and Conduct) Rules, 2008.
Prior to his appointment as Chairperson of the DJA, Mr. Satish was a Professor of Law at the National Law University (NLU), Delhi, where he was also the Executive Director of the Centre for Constitutional Law, Policy and Governance.
Government-funded
Judicial academies impart judicial education and training to judges. The Delhi Judicial Academy is funded by the Delhi government and administratively controlled by the Delhi High Court.
The NGO contended that as per information available on the website of the NLU, Mr. Satish’s experience as a professor could not have been of more than one-and-a-half years on the date of the appointment.
“Also, considering the credentials of the respondent no. 4 [Mr Satish] maximum experience of whatsoever, of respondent no.4 cannot be twenty five years or more,” the petition stated.
Mr. Mishra said that the minimum qualification for the post of Chairperson is that the person has been a judge of a High Court, or is a distinguished academician having teaching experience of not less than 25 years as a lecturer, and experience as a Professor of Law of not less than seven years.
“Hence under no circumstances the candidature of respondent no. 4 falls within the scope of the eligibility criteria enumerated in the vacancy circular dated August 20, 2018,” the plea said.
‘Illegally, arbitrarily’
It alleged that despite the fact that Mr. Satish was not eligible for the post, he was “illegally and arbitrarily appointed as the Delhi Judicial Academy chairperson by Patron-in-Chief (the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court) on the recommendation of a Search Committee constituted by the Patron-in-Chief”.
On January 4, 2019, Professor S.N. Singh, former Dean, Faculty of Law, Delhi University, wrote a letter to the Chief Justice of India requesting an enquiry into the matter. However, no response in this regard had been received till date, the plea further said.
