After Bar President's letter, Kerala High Court asks judges to submit judgments before retirement, restrains use of chamber

Kerala High Court Chief Justice AJ Desai on Thursday issued a slew of guidelines to be followed by judges and their staff on the retirement, transfer or elevation of judges..The Chief Justice has requested retiring, transferred and elevated judges to hand over their signed judgments and orders of all cases in which verdicts were reserved to the court registry on or before their last working day or at least by midnight on the retirement day. If judgments are not ready on time, the judges are to hand over the cases and documents to the registry so that it can place the same before new bench for hearing. .These directions were issued close on the heels of a letter written by the President of the Kerala High Court Advocates Association, Yeshwanth Shenoy to the Chief Justice alleging that recently retired Justice Mary Joseph had been using her chambers and writing judgments even after demitting office. The Bar president had also alleged that High Court staff were assisting the judge in backdating and uploading judgments..The guidelines issued by the Chief Justice today made it clear that no staff member of a judge is allowed to upload any judgment or order online after three days from the concerned judge's retirement. The Registrar (Computerisation)-cum-Director (IT) has been directed to make necessary changes to the system to ensure that judgments and orders can't be uploaded after three days. The staff of judges are to hand over all case records to the court registry by 4:30 pm on the third working day after a judge's retirement. The notification issued by the High Court stated that these guidelines have been issued to avoid unnecessary challenges as to the validity of judgments and orders that are delivered, signed and uploaded on the High Court website upon the retirement, transfer or elevation of judges. .Bar President writes to Kerala High Court Chief Justice alleging Justice Mary Joseph writing judgments after retirement.The guidelines also request judges to refrain from using their chambers in the High Court after they retire. However, in case a judge has been elevated or transferred, they can retain the chambers for such a period as accepted by the Chief Justice. Judges are allowed retain attached staff members, except co-terminus sevaks, for a period of one month after retirement or any period that is approved by the Chief Justice.