AKHTAR ALI, CIVIL JUDGE 1st CLASS, LAHORE vs The REGISTRAR, LAHORE HIGH COURT, LAHORE Rr

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AKHTAR ALI, CIVIL JUDGE 1st CLASS, LAHORE VS The REGISTRAR, LAHORE HIGH COURT, LAHORE Rr. 3(a), 3(b) & 4(1)(a)(ii)---Punjab Subordinate Judiciary Service Tribunal Act (XII of 1991), S. 5---Judicial Officer---Departmental proceedings---Charges of inefficiency and misconduct---Simultaneous penalties of withholding of increment and promotion---Legality---Determination of validity of orders passed by a judicial officer in departmental proceedings instead of appellate jurisdiction---Scope---Appellant assailed the order passed by respondent (Registrar High Court), whereby his departmental appeal had been rejected---Validity---Decision passed by any judge may ultimately turn out to be incorrect and be set aside by a higher judicial forum, however, the erroneous exercise of judicial power, resulting in an order based on an incorrect application of the law, cannot and should not cast doubt on the integrity of the Judicial Officer---Quality of a judgment or order passed by a Judicial Officer can only be properly assessed in appellate judicial proceedings and, ordinarily, not through disciplinary proceedings, unless extraneous factors that influenced the judgment or order are proved with cogent material presented before the inquiry officer---Inquiry Officer or Hearing Officer conducting disciplinary proceedings cannot act as an appellate or revisional forum over the judgments or orders passed by the Judicial Officer---Judicial independence of the subordinate judiciary must be respected and safeguarded at all costs---Inquiry Officer or Hearing Officer must proceed with extreme caution in such matters, as any overreach would have a chilling effect on the functioning of the subordinate judiciary, impeding its ability to perform judicial functions freely and fairly---No supporting material was available to establish any extraneous considerations on the part of the appellant in passing the order that was the subject matter of the inquiry---Order was passed on allegations of inefficiency and misconduct, but these allegations were not substantiated during the inquiry, especially considering the similar order passed by the appellant's successor, which had attained finality---Word 'or' appearing in R. 4(1)(a)(ii) of the Punjab Civil Servants (Efficiency and Discipline) Rules, 1999, particularly regarding the penalties of withholding an increment or promotion, to be termed as disjunctive, which means that only one minor penalty (either withholding of increment or withholding of promotion) should be awarded at a time, rather than combining both penalties---Appeal was allowed, in circumstances.

AKHTAR ALI, CIVIL JUDGE 1st CLASS, LAHORE vs The REGISTRAR, LAHORE HIGH COURT, LAHORE Rr — 2025 PLC(CS) 434 PUNJAB-SUBORDINATE-JUDICIAL-SERVICE-TRIBUNAL

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