HC dismisses NSEL judgeu2019s plea against state govt THE Bombay High Court has dismissed the petition of a temporary judge, who was assigned cases pertaining to the multi- crore National Spot Exchange Ltd ( NSEL) scam, seeking quashing of a Maharashtra government order that had terminated his services.
A division bench of Justice S S Shinde and Justice N B Suryawanshi dismissed the petition filed by judge Ajay Dinode challenging the order dated June 23, 2017, discharging him from the service and u201c creating disqualification from future employmentu201d. The bench noted that the impugned order was passed by the government after taking into consideration the overall performance, conduct and the suitability of the petitioner for the job. Dinode was appointed as a district judge on August 26, 2014 and was posted at Akola.
He was transferred time and again before being conferred with the powers of an additional sessions judge in 2015.
Dinode was then appointed as the special judge for speedy and expeditious trial for the matters relating to the NSEL scam. In his plea, Dinode stated that the appointing authorityu2014 the state governmentu2014 has mechanically followed the recommendations of the high court while discharging him from the service.
He further claimed that since the termination order was stigmatic, the same cannot be sustained in absence of any inquiry conducted by the high court.
In its order passed on January 30, the bench noted that Dinodeu2019s appointment letter clearly states that it was a temporary appointment that can be terminated without assigning any reason.
It further noted that Dinode was terminated from service when he was on probation.
The court also noted that the state governmentu2019s order is of simply terminating the petitioneru2019s services and it cannot be termed as stigmatic or punitive. u201c We are of the view that the impugned order was passed taking into consideration the overall performance, conduct and the suitability of the petitioner for the job,u201d the bench stated. Agencies
