Supreme Court seeks report after Madras High Court judge delivers judgments after his retirement

The Supreme Court on Tuesday took cognisance of Justice T Mathivanan, a former judge of the Madras High Court, pronouncing detailed judgments after his retirement[State through the Inspector of Police CBI/ACB/Chennai v. S Murali Mohan and Another]..A Bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih was informed that although the operative portion of the judgment was delivered before the judge retired, the detailed judgment was made available only after the judge had demitted office.The Court was informed that a one-line order was passed on May 15, 2017 and on the same day, the appellant had applied for the certified copy of the order. However, it is said that the Registry of the High Court had orally informed that the Judge had not issued a detailed order.The detailed judgment was provided on July 26, 2017 i.e., 2 months after the judge had retired..The Court was hearing a challenge by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against the decision of the High Court which had quashed a disproportionate assets case against the former IRS officer..This is not the first instance where Justice Mathivanan's conduct has come under scrutiny by the apex court after his retirement in May 2017.Previously, the Supreme Court had set aside a judgment of his after noting that the detailed portion of the judgment had been uploaded five months after his retirement..Today, the Court was informed that apart from the present case, there were nine other cases where Justice Mathivanan had done so and the top court has passed orders. Taking note, the Court called for a detailed report from Registrar General of Madras High Court. It specifically sought clarification on the following:What is the date on which the detailed judgment/order dated 15th May, 2017 was received by the Registry from the Office/Chamber of the learned Single Judge; When the detailed judgment/order was uploaded on the website of the High Court; and Whether there was any administrative direction issued by the Hon’ble Chief Justice of the Madras High Court at Chennai for de novo hearing of 09 cases heard by the learned Single Judge and, if such a direction was issued, whether the case subject-matter of this Special Leave Petition has been included in the list of 09 cases..Advocates Nachiketa Joshi, Swati Ghildiyal, Praneet Pranav, Satvika Thakur, Mukesh Kumar Maroria and Arvind Kumar Sharma, appeared for the State.Senior Advocate Siddharth Luthra, Sri Singh, Kv Girish Chaudhary, Rajat Singh, Aurica Bhattacharya, Sarthak Chandra and Arun Pratap Singh Rajawat, appeared for the accused..[Read Order].[Read Live Coverage]