Extreme situations warrant extreme steps,’’ said Rajendra Kumar Shrivas, additional district and sessions judge of Neemuch, who undertook a 715km-long ‘bicycle yatra’ from Neemuch to Jabalpur in protest against the Madhya Pradesh High Court transferring him four times in 15 months.
“I know what I am doing, nobody wants to lose the job of a judge at this age,’’ said the 48-year-old, after concluding his yatra on August 27. Shrivas then sat on a maun vrat (silent fast) before the High Court building, built in Jabalpur by a Marwari businessman in 1899. But by the second day, prohibitory orders were imposed, forcing him to call off the fast.
The High Court had suspended him on August 8, the day he joined duty at Neemuch, as he had sat on a dharna outside the High Court against his frequent transfers. “I had pleaded before the High Court that my son, who is a class X student, had spent only 23 days in his new school in Jabalpur and therefore I should be allowed to continue there till the end of the academic session. But, I was transferred to Neemuch,’’ said Shrivas. He said he had submitted seven written requests before the dharna, but received no response.
Shrivas named his bicycle protest Nyay Yatra—march for justice—and garlanded the statue of his community deity Sen Maharaj while passing through Bhopal. Many lawyers and Congress leaders felicitated him during the yatra. P.C. Kothari, secretary of the Bhopal Bar Association, said the association could not offer him organisational support, “but personally, I am with him and his cause.’’
Shrivas said he was overwhelmed by the support. “I am not a politician or a leader,” he said. “But I wanted to show that every citizen in this country must fight for his rights guaranteed by the Constitution and laws.” He said the transfer policy of the High Court was nepotistic. “Even if I lose my job, I will continue to fight. However, I will not resign. Let them terminate me,” he said.
Shrivas said he was transferred 11 times in 17 years and his fight was to ensure that norms were strictly followed during transfers. “While some judges continue to remain at one place for more than five years, others like me are transferred every five months,” he said. “Last year, I was transferred to Shahdol for four months. After that my next posting was in Jabalpur for three and a half months. From there I was transferred to Sehora for six and a half months. When I complained, I was transferred to Neemuch and then suspended on the very day I joined there.”
After his suspension, he sent a petition to the Supreme Court saying that by not obeying its guidelines on transfers, the Madhya Pradesh High Court was liable to be charged with contempt of court. The court registrar, however, told him to file a petition in person. Shrivas plans to approach the Supreme Court once again after the Diwali vacation.
Dinesh Kumar Nayak, president of the MP Judicial Officers Association, said Shrivas had never raised the matter in writing. “He chose the wrong way of getting things sorted out. Otherwise, things would not have become so bad,’’ Nayak said.
The registrar-general of the High Court, Mohammad Fahim Anwar, said Shrivas’s allegations were baseless. “He was transferred from Dhar to Shahdol on the completion of a three-year tenure. He is a native of the Malwa region, and has always remained in that area,” said Anwar. “What he is doing amounts to indiscipline.’’
But, Shrivas is in no mood to give up. “After I raised my voice through the cycle yatra, they are trying to crush my voice by not allowing me to sit me in front of the seat of justice—the High Court premises in Jabalpur,” he said. “I will not disobey the prohibitory orders. I will try and exhaust all my options, and then I will decide on a final action, which is a secret.”
