Expunging adverse judicial remarks: superior courts must use restraint before making unjustified strictures against subordinate judges.

Superior courts should exercise restraint before making adverse remarks against a subordinate judicial officer, confining observations to what is strictly necessary for the decision. Unnecessary, intemperate or castigating strictures, especially where no opportunity of hearing was afforded, may be expunged in exercise of corrective judicial power, including inherent power recognised in criminal procedure. Applying that principle, the impugned remarks against the judicial officer were found unjustified and were ordered to be expunged, while the remainder of the order was left undisturbed.

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Issues: Whether the adverse remarks and strictures passed by the High Court against the judicial officer were justified and liable to be expunged.

Analysis: The order under challenge was passed in the course of judicial proceedings, but the impugned remarks were found to be unnecessary for the decision of the matter and were made in intemperate and castigating language. The governing principle is that superior courts may correct or expunge unjustified observations against judicial officers, but such correction must be exercised with restraint, sobriety, and only where necessary; remarks should ordinarily be confined to the legal and factual issues involved and should not inflict avoidable harm on a subordinate judge, particularly without affording an opportunity of hearing. The power to expunge such observations is supported by the inherent power recognized in the criminal procedure context.

Conclusion: The remarks and strictures against the judicial officer were unjustified and were ordered to be expunged.

Final Conclusion: The appeal succeeded to the extent that the adverse observations in the impugned order were set aside, while the rest of the order was not disturbed.

Ratio Decidendi: Superior courts should not pass harsh or derogatory strictures against a subordinate judicial officer unless such remarks are strictly necessary for the decision, and unjustified adverse observations may be expunged in exercise of corrective judicial power.

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