The Supreme Court on Friday (8th August) recalled its order against Allahabad High Court judge Justice Prashant Kumar, which ordered his permanent removal from the criminal roster. The development came after the intervention of the Chief Justice of India, BR Gavai, who wrote to a bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan, which passed the said order, to reconsider the order against Justice Kumar.
The order against Justice Kumar was passed by the Supreme Court on August 4, 2025, criticising his decision of allowing criminal proceedings in a civil suit regarding unpaid money in a sale. Making scathing remarks against the High Court judge, the Apex Court directed the Chief Justice of the High Court, Arun Bhansali, to permanently bar Justice Kumar from hearing criminal matters and to make him sit with a senior judge in a division bench of the High Court.
“The judge concerned has not only cut a sorry figure for himself, but has made a mockery of justice. We are at our wits’ end to understand what is wrong with the Indian Judiciary at the level of the High Court,” the Supreme Court sternly remarked in its order.
13 Allahabad High Court judges wrote a letter not to implement the Supreme Court direction against Justice Kumar
However, the Supreme Court order was not received well within the judiciary fraternity, as three days after the passing of the order, some Allahabad High Court judges sent a written request to the Chief Justice of the High Court not to implement the order against Justice Kumar.
13 judges of the Allahabad High Court wrote to the Chief Justice of the High Court on August 7, 2025, urging him to convene a full court to consider not implementing the Supreme Court order. The following judges signed the letter: Justice Krishan Pahal, Justice Sameer Jain, Justice Anish Kumar Gupta, Justice Manish Nigam, Justice Saurabh Shyam Samshery, Justice Gautam Chowdhary, Justice Donadi Ramesh, Justice Shekhar Saraf, Justice Manoj Bajaj, Justice Kshitij Shailendra, Justice Saurabh Srivastava, and Justice PK Giri.
The letter reportedly quoted the principles laid down by the Supreme Court, which stressed that the higher courts must exercise restraint when commenting on judicial officers who are not present to defend themselves. Pointing out that the Supreme Court did not have administrative superintendence over the High Courts, the letter stated that the Full Court expressed disappointment over the “tone and the tenor of the said order”.
CJI Gavai urged the Supreme Court bench to reconsider the order
Subsequently, CJI Gavai intervened, and the case was listed for today (8th August) for fresh directions. On receiving the CJI’s letter, Justice Pardiwala said that the court has directed the Registry to re-notify the matter today. “We have received an undated letter from the hon’ble Chief Justice of India requesting the reconsideration of the observations in paras…In such circumstances, we directed the Registry to re-notify the main matter for considering the request made by the Chief Justice of India,” Justice Pardiwala said.
The bench clarified that it did not intend to embarrass the HC judge
The Supreme Court bench disposed of the matter today and passed a fresh order. The court clarified that it did not intend to embarrass the judge but to protect the dignity and honour of the institution. “At the outset, we must clarify that our intention was not to cause embarrassment or cast aspersions on the concerned Judge. We would not even think of doing so. However, when the matters cross a threshold and the dignity of the institution is imperilled, it becomes the constitutional responsibility of this Court to intervene even when acting under its appellate jurisdiction under Article 136 of the Constitution,” Justice Pardiwala stated while pronouncing the order.
However, maintaining that the order passed by Justice Kumar was “perverse” and “illegal”, the bench said that it was concerned about the dignity of the judiciary, as the High Courts are not separate from the institution.
In the fresh order, the bench directed the deletion of the paras (25 and 26) containing harsh remarks against Justice Kumar. “In any view of the matter, since a request in writing has been received from Hon’ble the Chief Justice of India and in due deference to the same, we hereby delete para 25 and 26 from our order dated 4th August 2025. The order be corrected accordingly. While we are deleting the paragraphs, we leave it to the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court to now look into the matter,” the Court said.
The bench also clarified that it was not interfering in the administrative power of the Chief Justice of the High Court. We fully acknowledge that the Chief Justice of a High Court is the master of the roster. The directions are absolutely not interfering with the administrative power of the Chief Justice of the High Court. When matters raise institutional concerns affecting the rule of law, this court may be compelled to step in and take corrective steps,” the Court added.
