Chief Justice Allahabad High Court sends ‘DND’ cellphone alert to all district judges in UP

[dropcap]A[/dropcap] constant beeping of message notifications on his cellphone this Krishna Kanmashtami has left Allahabad High Court Chief Justice Govind Mathur with no option but to send a ‘Do Not Disturb’ alert to all the district judges in Uttar Pradesh.

Making Justice Mathur’s annoyance clear, the high court’s registrar general, Mayank Kumar Jain, has written to all the district judges in the state, asking them to consider the matter as “most urgent.”

While the letter has impressed upon the district judges and lower staff that they could send a message to the Chief Justice in case of “extreme exigency”, it also warned that “any lapse on the part of any judicial officer shall be viewed seriously.”

Jain underscored that “some of the judicial officers” had been sending Janmashtami messages to “His Lordship’s” mobile phone which created “problems” and caused “inconvenience” to the Chief Justice.

“His Lordship has expressed great concern on the issue and has directed the undersigned to ensure that no messages/good wishes/WhatsApp messages on any occasion, either today or in future, are sent on the mobile number of His Lordship except in any extreme exigency,” the registrar general’s letter emailed to district judges said.

The district judges have also been instructed to pass on the instruction to the judicial officers working under their jurisdiction.