Today, On 3rd September, The Supreme Court requested a report after learning that a Madras High Court judge issued detailed judgments after his retirement. Although the judge delivered the operative portion of the judgments before retiring, the full judgments were only published on the High Court’s website after his retirement.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court, On Tuesday, took notice of an incident involving Justice T Mathivanan, a former Madras High Court judge, who delivered detailed judgments after his retirement.
A Bench comprising Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih informed that, although the operative portions of the judgments were announced before Justice Mathivanan retired, the full judgments were only published on the High Court’s website after he had left office.
The case under consideration was an appeal by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) seeking to quash a disproportionate assets case.
This is not the first time Justice Mathivanan’s actions have been questioned by the Supreme Court following his retirement in May 2017.
Previously, the Supreme Court overturned one of his judgments after discovering that the full text of the decision had been uploaded five months post-retirement.
In its order, the Supreme Court observed,
“Counsel for the respondent drew our attention to the High Court PIO’s response to an RTI concerning the correct date of the order. However, the dispute raised by the petitioner is not about the date mentioned in the reasoned judgment. The contention is that while a single-line order was passed on 15 May 2017, the detailed reasoning was not made available until after the judge had demitted office.“
During the hearing, the Court informed that, in addition to the current case, there were nine other instances where Justice Mathivanan had similarly issued judgments after his retirement, prompting the top court to take action.
The Court requested a comprehensive report from the Registrar General of the Madras High Court. It specifically asked for clarification on two key points:
- The timing of the single-line order’s pronouncement versus the uploading of the detailed order.
- Whether the Chief Justice of the Madras High Court issued any administrative instructions for de novo hearings in the nine cases where similar delays in detailed judgments occurred following Justice Mathivanan’s retirement.
This development highlights the importance of maintaining judicial integrity and transparency, particularly in cases where the timing and manner of judgment delivery are called into question. The Supreme Court’s demand for a thorough investigation reflects its commitment to upholding the sanctity of the judicial process.
Justice T Mathivanan is a former judge of the Madras High Court who has recently come under scrutiny for delivering detailed judgments after his retirement. His actions have raised concerns regarding judicial propriety and have led the Supreme Court of India to take notice of the situation.
Justice Mathivanan retired in May 2017, but it was later discovered that he had issued detailed judgments for several cases post-retirement, despite having announced only the operative portions before stepping down.
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