The Delhi High Court has disposed of a petition for investigation into the administration of Delhi Judicial Academy (DJA) over appointment of Professor Mrinal Satish to the post of chairperson of the academy.
Last month, Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal, on the recommendation of the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, accepted the resignation of Mr. Satish from the post with effect from December 24, 2019.
The petition before the High Court had claimed that Mr. Satish was ineligible for the post. Earlier, the High Court had also sought response from Mr. Satish and DJA over the appointment.
The DJA is funded by the Delhi government and administratively controlled by the Delhi High Court. Judicial academies impart judicial education and training to judges.
NGO AGAM, in its petition filed through advocate Ashutosh Kumar Mishra, had 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.
The NGO had contended that as per information available on the website of the National Law University, Mr. Satish’s experience as a professor cannot be of more than one-and-a-half years from the date of the appointment.
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 twenty-five years as a lecturer, and experience as a Professor of Law of not less than seven years.
The plea alleged that Mr. Satish was “illegally and arbitrarily” appointed as the DJA chairperson while seeking “investigation into the administration of the DJA”.
“The appointment of the respondent no.4 [Satish] by by-passing the mandatory condition of the vacancy circular dated August 20, 2018 is a patent illegality committed at the hand of the search committee,” the plea had said.
On January 4, 2019, Prof. S.N. Singh, former Dean, Faculty of Law, Delhi University, wrote a letter to the Chief Justice of India requesting for an enquiry into the matter.
