Retired judges asked to vacate official quarters by Oct 31

Mumbai, Oct 12 (UNI) The Bombay High Court today directed the State Government to have the official quarters, occupied by judges who had either retired or transferred but were overstaying, vacated by October 31 and recover the dues from them.

A division bench comprising justices R M Lodha and S A Bobde directed that the water and electricity supply to such quarters be discontinued from November 1, if the judges failed to vacate such accomodation by October 31.

Several instances of retired or transferred judges continuing to say in official quarters have come to the notice of the High Court.

One of the judges, Mrs G R Agarwal, had passed away but her family continued to occupy the official residence. Another judge from Pune, D Birajdar, had been transferred to Solapur but continued to occupy the Pune accomodation. Justice Lodha observed, ''It appears he has not comprehended the gravity of his misconduct and shall be brought to the notice of the Chief Justice by the Registrar General of the HC.'' The court was hearing a public interest litigation filed by MBPT Workers Union against one district magistrate A A Laad who, after retirement, was appointed by the Central Government as a Labour Court judge but did not vacate his official accomodation allotted while serving as district court judge. He subsequently vacated the place and issued a cheque for the arrears. The cheque was, however, dishnoured and the court has directed him to issue another cheque within two weeks.

The court suo moto raised the issue of all retired judges occupying official accomodation.

Sixteen judges have been listed by the Registrar General of the High Court who had been asked to vacate their accomodation. Ten of them have complied with the directions so far.

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