Allahabad High Court explains how retired High Court judges' names should be written

The Allahabad High Court has taken exception to the manner in which government officials add “retired” with the names of former High Court judges and asked the State to rectify the same [Lavkush Tiwari and 1486 others vs State of UP and Others]..Justice JJ Munir said the word “retired” is not to be appended as if it is the name of the judge but "Retired Judge" and "Retired Judge of the High Court" can be mentioned after writing a judge's name.“The flaw is common place these days. A retired Judge is not supposed to be referred to as "Hon'ble Mr. Justice ..... (Retired)". The word "Retired" is not to be appended as if it were to the name of the Judge. A Judge of the High Court, after he retires, still carries with his name, the title "Mr. Justice ...". All that is to be done in case of a retired Judge is that after a reference to his name as "Mr. Justice ....", the words "Retired Judge" or "Retired Judge of the High Court of ..." may be mentioned. It is not that after the name "Mr. Justice...." the word "Retired" is to be suffixed. This is a fallacy, of which the Government must take note,” the Court said..Justice Munir said since it was a matter of protocol, the Registrar (Protocol) should submit a report regarding it.“Let the necessary existing and past protocol guidelines on the issue, if any, be submitted along with the report to be submitted by the Registrar (Protocol),” ordered the Court.The Court raised the issue after it noticed that a former judge’s name was incorrectly written in an affidavit submitted by an officer of the Uttar Pradesh government in response to a court order in a case..In the affidavit, the Additional Chief Secretary (Home) had referred to a Committee, which was stated to be headed by “Hon’ble Justice Shri JN Mittal."However, the Court said the judge’s name was Justice AN Mittal. “This Court is pained to note that the description of the Hon'ble Judge, his name and protocol have all been breached. The Hon'ble Judge, to whom the reference is made in paragraph no. 18, is Mr. Justice A.N. Mittal. It is disrespectful to incorrectly name a Judge,” it said.The matter will be heard next on August 30..Advocates Aditya Prakash Verma and Shailesh Verma represented the petitioners.[Read Order]