The leave applications of judicial officers of the District Judiciary of Kerala will be weighed against their professional performance.
An office memorandum issued by the Registrar (District Judiciary) of the Kerala High Court on Monday has asked the Principal District Judges and the Chief Judicial Magistrates to include the details of “the percentage of achievement of target, performance in the disposal of old cases and the details of leave availed in the last two years while forwarding applications for leave, other than casual 1ave of the Judicial Officers.”
It also suggested that the Principal District Judges/Chief Judicial Magistrates shall offer their remarks on the request for leave.
It appears that the circular is intended to serve as a deterrent for judicial officers from applying for their legally earned commuted and earned leaves, which are availed of to meet medical emergencies and familial commitments. These leaves are credited in their account proportional to the number of years of service, as prescribed in the Kerala Service Rules (KSR), pointed out a judicial officer.
One need not wait for the leave application of the judicial officers to assess their performance as each officer files a monthly statement on disposal rate, total pendency of cases, the cases that are pending for more than five and 15 years, target achieved and cases stayed by higher courts. In addition, annual statements are also filed, said another judicial officer.
The disposal of cases depends on a host of factors including the performance of the judge, the court staff and the cooperation of the lawyers. Taxing the judicial officers alone by adding a rider for availing the eligible leave amounts to a violation of Constitutional rights, felt a woman officer.
The KSR doesn’t mandate a performance-linked leave-granting system for any government official. The circular discriminates against the judicial officers alone as it has not introduced any such system for any other officials, including those of the Kerala High Court and district courts, argued another officer.
The attempts to get the response of the High Court failed as the repeated telephone calls and messages went unanswered.