Dismissing her petition, the court said, “On perusal of the record, it is clear that the conduct of the petitioner was clearly unbecoming of a judicial officer.” Ahmedabad: Gujarat High Court has upheld the sacking of a judge who was removed from her office for spending the night in her car on the court campus when she was not allotted an official residence at her new place of posting. The court noted that she escalated the matter by threatening to sleep on a footpath, attracting media attention, seeking the transfer of a sitting high court judge, and making offensive allegations against the chief justice.
After the hearing, the bench of Justice N S Sanjay Gowda and Justice J L Odedra said, “If a judicial officer decides to threaten the principal district judge and threatens to sleep on the pavement if a suitable accommodation was not provided, this conduct would basically be one which would be mocking the entire judiciary and showing the institution itself in a poor light. In our view, such a conduct, which is not in dispute, renders a judicial officer incapable of holding a judicial office and she cannot be permitted to continue in service. ” Regarding her letter to the CJ to transfer a sitting HC judge, the court said that it is “on the face of it, obnoxious and despicable”. “A senior civil judge cannot by any stretch of imagination, address a letter to the chief justice and call upon the chief justice to make a recommendation for transferring a sitting judge of the high court,” the court said.
The case involved Asha Dave, who was transferred from Vadodara to Deesa in Oct 2012 as an additional senior civil judge. A report from the principal district judge led to her suspension and disciplinary proceedings in 2013. In 2023, HC’s full court accepted the recommendation for Dave’s dismissal.
Since judicial accommodation was not available at Deesa, she was told to arrange private accommodation. In 2014, she was issued two additional chargesheets over letters sent to the high court, including one requesting the chief justice and other judges to transfer a sitting high court judge, and another that the court described as “intemperate”. Instead of renting a house, she faxed the principal district judge at Palanpur seeking permission to sleep on the pavement, commute daily from Palanpur to Deesa and be allowed TA/DA, and have the collector requisition accommodation. She even spent a night in her car in the court complex, resulting in widespread media coverage. She challenged it before HC’s judicial side.