This post is about how to complain against any judge be it trial courts, high courts, or supreme court in India. Right now it is being written with information collected from various places and based on personal experiences of people, and over time will have authoritative information. This post however does not cover about bad or unbecoming conduct of a judge outside of a court or trial scenario.
Complain against judge cannot be about a ‘bad’ judgment or order. For that there is provision of revision, review, or appeal to higher judiciary.
So in what situations can people complain against judges?
Here we can take guidance from similar procedures from other countries’ processes about complaints against judiciary. E.g. following webpage from UK shows very clear and detailed procedure and on what kind of matters one can complain against a judge’s conduct there.
http://judicialconduct.judiciary.gov.uk/making-a-complaint/what-do-we-need-from-you/
Possible bad or irresponsible conduct of judge
- I felt that the judge was rude towards me because? (provide details of exactly what the judge said or did / the language used / actions or behaviour)
- I felt that the judge was hostile towards me throughout the hearing. This was demonstrated by? (provide details of body language / actions or attitude / comments or behaviour)
- It appeared as if the judge had fallen asleep during the hearing (provide details of supporting evidence such as eyes closed / snoring / did not respond to questions)
Note: Though not hostile, I have experienced judges’ casual or insensitive attitude in making irrelevant or insensitive statements/comments which doesn’t go by norms of what judge is supposed to do in line of judicial duty. And about point about sleeping, I have seen a judge making great effort not to nap while OP advocate was giving verbal arguments.
Another type of example of irresponsible or non-judicial conduct of judge: It was reported by a husband that judge in a DV Act maintenance case threatened in open court to husband to take back wife or the high interim maintenance order will be given by judge!
The information on above page is quite reasonable, so one can adopt a similar broad format to send complaint and mention as much detail as possible. Here we might add that though India has inherited many laws and procedural laws from British, you won’t be able to find such clear and detailed information on any official website (later we cover India’s DoJ procedure too) within India. Simple reason is the mai-baap mind-set in India: we don’t want to complain against mai-baap, because they are the ones who decide our judgment, fate, salary, promotion, reward, punishment, whatever.
Also, from a veteran of many court proceedings, along with complaint sworn affidavit is mandatory.
From another UK government website:
https://www.gov.uk/complain-judge-magistrate-tribunal-coroner
You can complain if you’re unhappy with a judge, magistrate, tribunal member or coroner’s:
- behaviour
- language
- conduct
You must make your complaint within 3 months.
Just to round up with more information in case readers want to see how it’s happening in UK:
https://www.supremecourt.uk/about/judicial-conduct-and-complaints.html
Where and to whom to send the complaint
Our veteran of many courts has been sending complaints as per jurisdiction below:
1. Subordinate judiciary: Send to Registrar (vigilance), District administrative judge (available from ecourts for my state)
2. HC judges: CJ of HC
3. SC judges: CJI of SC
4. CJ HC: sent to CJI himself(!)
Now for official information: The citizen’s charter PDF file available on below Department of Justice webpage gives several contact information for grievances. One could contact them over phone/email to find out directly how and where to file complain for a particular jurisdiction/court.
http://doj.gov.in/citizen-charter
Following from their citizen’s charter document:
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VISION:
Facilitating administration of Justice that ensures easy access and timely delivery of Justice to all.MISSION:
Ensuring adequacy of courts and judges, including servicing of appointment of Judges to the higher judiciary, modernization of courts and procedures, policies for judicial reforms and Legal aid to the poor for improved justice delivery.
From the DoJ Guidelines (PDF file), the relevant information about grievances against judiciary has been extracted and given below:
- Department of Justice (DOJ) receives large number of grievances from citizens through online CPGRAMS portal and on e.mail of the officers. DoJ also receives grievances through Presidents Secretariat/Vice Presidents Secretariat/PMO/Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances/other Ministries/Departments & also directly. While majority of the grievances are related to judiciary, grievances relating to other Ministries/Departments in the Central Government and pertaining to State Governments/Union Territories are also sent to us. The grievances related to judiciary are handled in the Department of Justice and the grievances pertaining to other Departments/Ministries/State Governments/UTs are forwarded to the offices concerned. The following guidelines relating to disposal of grievances in the Department of Justice are communicated for information/guidance/benefit of grievance holders:
- Grievances related to judiciary are forwarded to the Secretary General Supreme Court of India/Registrar General of the concerned High Court for further action, as appropriate.
- Any Grievance related to verdicts of the Courts are not handled as a grievance. Such grievance holders are advised to seek appropriate legal remedy in the appropriate Court of Law as per rules. Grievances related to the verdicts of the Courts will be filed in the Department of Justice. Grievances relating to procedure of the Court or matters purely judicial in nature, can be resolved through Court of Law only. Such grievances will be filed in Department of Justice.
- Grievances relating to Judges of Supreme Court are forwarded to the Chief Justice of India and grievances related to Judges of the High Courts are forwarded to Chief Justice of the concerned High Courts for appropriate action. (As the Judiciary is independent, Government does not ask for action taken report nor sends reminders to them. Grievance holders are advised to seek information from the concerned Courts directly in this regard).
- Disposal of pending case (s) in court (s) is within the domain of Judiciary, which is an independent organ of the State under the Constitution of India. Government of India does not interfere in the functioning of the Judiciary / proceedings in courts as pendency of a Court Case is subjudice matter which is under consideration of the court.
- In case of any grievance relating to undue delay in judgement or unfair judgement or miscarriage of justice, the petitioner is advised to resort to judicial remedy by filing appeal or any other proceedings before the appropriate Court of Law within the prescribed time limit.
- As per the guidelines issued by the Supreme Court of India related to grievances/complaints against members of the Subordinate Judiciary, it is clarified that such grievances are to be accompanied with a duly sworn affidavit and verifiable material to substantiate the allegations made therein. Such grievances, alongwith sworn affidavit, need to be sent directly to the Registrar General of the concerned High Court.
- Grievances forwarded by Department of Justice are considered and examined by the Judiciary as per their own in house mechanism and the system/procedure to deal with grievances which is normally not shared. In such cases, Department of Justice is not in a position to inform the outcome to grievance holders.
- Grievance holders are advised/requested to lodge their grievances on the Public Grievance Portal cpgrams-darpg@nic.in ” only. Since the Government has launched designated portal to receive grievances online, grievances received in the Department of Justice on the email I.Ds of officers will not be entertained.
The grievance holders are advised to send the grievances pertaining to the Supreme Court/High Courts directly to them on the below mentioned mails in order to expedite disposal of their grievances:
S.No. Name of the High Court e.mail ID
1. Supreme Court of India supremecourt@nic.in
2. High Court of Allahabad rg@allahabadhighcourt.in
3. High Court of Tripura thc.vigilance@gmail.com
4. High Court of Gauhati regv.ghc@gmail.com
5. High Court of Kerala rsjhc.ker@nic.in
6. High Court of admn.misc.jhcranchi@gmail.com
Jharkhand vigilancecellscs.jhcranchi@gmail.com
7. High Court of rg.ukhc@indiancourts.nic.in
Uttrakhand
8. High Court of rg.mglhc@indiancourts.nic.in
Meghalaya
9. High Court of Delhi aojestablishment2.dhc@nic.in
10. Bombay High Court rgsid-bhc@nic.in
11. Sikkim High Court cpc-sik@nic.in
12. Punjab & Haryana High reg.vig-phc@indianjudiciary.gov.in
Court
13. HP High Court arvindm@aij.gov.in
14. High Court of vv-hc.cg@gov.in
Chhattisgarh
15. Andhra Pradesh High svsrmoorty@gmail.com
Court
16. Gujarat High Court rg-hc-guj@nic.in
17. Rajasthan High Court regadmn-rhc-rj@gov.in
rajinder.tuteja@aij.gov.in
18. Jammu & Kashmir myakhoon@gmail.com
High Court
19. Karnataka High Court grievance@hck.gov.in
20. Patna High Court phcgrievance-bih@gov.in
21. Madhya Pradesh High usdey15@gmail.com
Court rggrievance@yahoo.com
22. Madras High Court regrvigil.tn@nic.in
23. Manipur High Court nd.grievance-hcm@gov.in
24. Orissa High Court rg.orihc@indiancourts.nic.in
25. Calcutta High Court cpc-cal@indianjudiciary.gov.in
26. NALSA nalsa-dla@nic.in
So complaints can be sent either directly to HC if applicable, or to cpgrams-darpg@nic.in. Don’t send complaints to individual officers’ email ids.
Following are more links to further information and guidelines:
http://ecourts.gov.in/Ecourtktm16-0
http://ecourts.gov.in/kozhikode/complaints-grievances
http://hareshraichura.blogspot.in/2012/09/how-to-file-complaint-against-sitting.html
Do you get a acknowledgement after a email complaint is sent to the RG Supreme court / High Court? Any idea what happens after a email complaint and time frame to get a reply?
AFAIK, the people who have actually filed complaint have done it in writing (paper), and so I don’t know about what happens to the complaints sent via email. You can always follow up by filing RTI with reference to action taken on the complaint via email.
Karnataka HC has a circular/guideline that all such complaints against judicial officers be made by way of affidavit, to check misuse. In that case, email won’t do.
Sir, I had taken loan of Rs. 30000/- in year 1999 from a local money lender, sir I had paid him. A blank cheque was issued in good faith to him as a security. Sir in March 2013 he had filled the blank cheque amounting of Rs 3,00,000/- which was then returned without giving any notice. Sir now I had a notice under section 138 at Jt. JMFC on dated 15/04/2013. District court give decision against me request you to advise to face the same.
You should contact your lawyers for these kind of issues, we are not lawyers.
Court went by evidence on record, and you probably couldn’t prove that a blank cheque was given in good faith. What was the need to give a blank cheque?
Also, if you could prove that the loan taken was only 30,000, and nothing afterwards that should have been taken into account.
On 4/22/2018 the President of India cleared an Ordinance. Hanging to those Rapists who rape girls below certain age. Good. But RIGHT TO LIVE AND LIFE IS ALSO THERE.It is a FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT. Cabinet cannot act as an AX MAN. It is the Parliament which is Supreme. Regarding FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS there shall not be Ordinances. There shall be a BILL
Gkmurthy
One of my clients whose wife deserted him has filed a case against the entire family members including the school going minor daughter (17 years)under D.V Act. The Magistrate has summoned all of them. What should be my step to discharge or alienate the case of the minor girl. We have to file the written objection of the plaint of wife. Whether we should make submission to separate the case and try it at JJ Board or carry on in the same court. Kindly guide.
DV is mostly civil case (like CrPC 125), even though the procedures/trial is under CrPC. Not sure about the JJ Board part, (I’m not even a lawyer in case you thought so)
Dear Sir,
My sister had filed an FIR against her husband under various sections which seems to diluted as the husband is brother-in-law of CJM in that area and hence no police officer is ready to file chargesheet as per the FIR made due to very serious pressure from CJM which has even informed by the Investigating Officer (IO) in particular said case. Now,we feel very dejected and getting justice to my sister looks very far and almost negligible due to this CJM. Hence, I request the ways in which we could have chargesheet file without any pressure from CJM and secondly what are the ways to bring CJM under law for questioning for influencing the case by using his post??
Unless you have some serious evidence against CJM, it is better not to speculate what’s happening in the background, but pursue with police/IO about investigation and charge-sheeting. Police is not under CJM or judiciary in general. Complaint can be filed against IO instead to higher police authorities, let him/her explain about CJM etc to them.
If CJM court judge expected to involve in corruption and favouring his judgement then what should be my step against that judge?
You need to have solid proof of corruption, only then this article is applicable. For bad judicial decisions, appeal to higher courts is the only way.
i have filed a FIR against Mr.Vithal kusuma and others for selling my lands without ownership or authority in sec 468,471,406,419,420,120-B, 447,427, 506, of IPC, the accused is very influential and got me arrested in counter case in spite of HIGH COURT order not to ARREST,, he is threatening he knows few judges with names that i will never get an order in this case ,,i want to complaint about this judges ,,i dont want any action on judges but these peopel should not help him and i losing my basic fundalmental rights , kindly advice
case lies against police who arrested despite stay on arrest, not judge.
Sir if a judge says , “I will not give you parity if you want you can argue “ before listening to the accused side
So my question is , is it okey or should I file an complaint?
‘Accused’ word is used in criminal trials. I don’t understand what is meant by ‘parity’ in such trial of accused since anyway it’s prosecution who have burden of proof beyond reasonable doubt. Difficult to say without knowing the context, but probably it’s not a case of misconduct.
Complaint Letter
14.09.2016
Kurinjipadi
From,
S.Rajalakshimi
3/41/45, K. K. Nagar
Kurinjipadi
Cuddalore Dist. 607302
To,
The High court Vigilance Officer
High court
Chennai..
Dear Sir/Madam,
I was field FIR on 17.7 2013 under the section S417, 506(ii) IPC, R/W of TNWH Act against P.Arumugam. (Accused – P.Arumugam) The accused was escaped from India from the date of FIR. With continuous effort by us On 10 th January 2016 accused was arrested while reach at Koyambuttur Airport. The information was shared to local police about accused arrival and then local police was arrested based on order given by ADSP and SP. And then the local police went to Koyambuttur Airport and then accused was arrested.
On 10 th January night accused reached at Mahila court with local police. The court was decided to put him on Jail. On 27 th January night accused was released by court with condition Bail. Accused and his relative were threading /cautioned us after his release.
We had given complaints to High court vigilance officer on 21.1.2016 & 20.06.2016 to enquire about Mahila court and then cancel the wrong order given by Mahila court for issuing of Bail and passport to impeached.
And then the Hight cout was ordered to take one time DNA test , both the part were agreed , the result has come positively and its proved , that the girl baby father is accused,
The case redirected to cuddalore Mahila court for the review. The entire affidavit was with favor of complainant.
But the Mahila court has fix the judgment date on 14.09.17, Today the Mahila court judge Mr.Selvam has informed the accused in a single work your are released. Where is the justice? Hence the judgment was wrong in spite of produced all the proves.
Hence I request to take the action on Mahila court Judge for the wrong judgment and accused has to be punished, we want justice before i die, justice to win,,
We request Honorable vigilance officer to take necessary action on immediate basis about Mahila court & Accused.
Respected By
S,Rajalakshmi
You have to send it yourselves directly to the vigilance officer etc as applicable. This article is only to provide information. We cannot initiate complaint on anyone’s behalf.
HI I am sathya. I want to know how to complain against court. I applied divorce case in June 2015 . But my maximum hearing passed only in strike. But magistrate put next hearing 2 months gap. I am really disappointed. Advocate and court makes this strike but petitioner only affected. I need some solution for this problem
Complaint can’t be filed against court for delays due to strike etc
sir, how to make a real dv case by wife seem false by husband
We give only legal advice here… but maybe many people think if law misuse can be done by women, then men may also have some laws or legal loopholes which they can use to counter wife’s law misuse, and let’s go to men’s rights folks to learn! Such is the level of knowledge and mindset about how law is supposed to work.
Sir, My financial parameters changes since 2009 when my father passed away due to huge business loss and after onwards i am trying my most best to even survive, my wife left 2009 due our financial and 2012 i somehow request her to come back but she stay 4 months and left again and filled the DV maintence case. she said my earning 5lacs per month base our previous family company and i didn’t even filling my reguler ITRs those filled are NIL since 200, the company she mentioned is non operational since 2009, given my bank statements and written arguments,
Ms. Swati katiyar-MM TIS HAZARI court, she replaced Ms. meenu Kashhik few days ago n on final arguments she was kind of rude and even didn’t bother to hear us after arising my hands 2 times and passed the order 50000/- RUPEEE PER MONTH TO PAY FROM THE 2013, ofcourse i have choice to suicide but I wanted to fight before i leave my body,, CAN ANYONE PLEASE HELP
I am advocate in mehsana district court. When i was get to my notary advocate form in bank manager sign so manager said that it is not my duty. So plz advice
Question is not clear. Bank managers may give signature/seal on documents which can verify customer’s bank statement and other such documents etc, whether it is duty of bank manager or not, you can check RBI site or see how other banks are doing.
In brief Sir my divorce application has been transfered at my wife place due to cheating and not filling my reply by my advocate and kept me in dark in the punjab and high court please advise me the remedy can i file the review petition in high court and where to complain of advocate of cheating pls advise me
Advocate misconduct is a different thing which I will cover in separate post. It will be complaint to bar council of state. You have to file that and alongwith apply for review etc to HC mentioning reference to bar council complaint etc with copy of complaint.