Allahabad High Court Slams Trial Judge for “Daylight Judicial Murder,” Orders Administrative Action in Property Dispute Case
By Rajesh Pandey
In a strongly worded judgment, the Allahabad High Court has taken serious note of what it described as deliberate judicial misconduct by a trial court judge in a disputed property matter.
Calling the lower court’s conduct “shocking” and a case of “daylight judicial murder,” the High Court has directed that the matter be placed before the Chief Justice for appropriate administrative action.
The case arose from a first appeal filed by Nagar Nigam Ghaziabad, challenging a May 13, 2025 judgment delivered by the civil judge (senior division), Ghaziabad.
The trial court had ordered the municipal body to change the plaintiff’s name as the owner of a property based on an earlier ex parte decree.
However, while examining the appeal, Justice Sandeep Jain found that the very foundation of the earlier decree was legally untenable.
The decree had been passed against a person who was already deceased at the time of the proceedings, rendering it a nullity in the eyes of the law.
The High Court observed that a valid death certificate had been produced to establish that Sushila Mehra had died before the earlier decree was granted.
Yet, the trial judge chose to disregard this crucial document. The justification given — that the certificate was only a photocopy and therefore inadmissible — did not convince the High Court.
In his February 24 judgment, Justice Jain remarked that the reasoning adopted by the trial court was “perverse” and appeared to be influenced by extraneous considerations.
The High Court noted that ignoring such a fundamental piece of evidence effectively enabled the plaintiff to derive an unlawful benefit from a decree that should never have been passed.
The bench further clarified important principles of property law in the course of its ruling.
Addressing the plaintiff’s claim of adverse possession, the court reiterated that a tenant who enters a property lawfully cannot subsequently deny the landlord’s ownership.
Once tenancy is established, the occupant is bound to return vacant possession and cannot claim title against the landlord.
Additionally, the court underscored that mutation entries in municipal or revenue records do not confer ownership rights.
Citing the Supreme Court’s ruling in P. Kishore Kumar vs. Vittal K. Patkar, it reaffirmed that such entries are primarily for fiscal purposes and cannot substitute for a valid title.
After a detailed examination of the record, the High Court allowed the appeal, quashed the impugned judgment and decree dated May 13, 2025, and dismissed the original suit with costs.
In unusually sharp language, the court expressed deep concern over the conduct of the trial judge, stating that the episode shook the conscience of the court and cast doubt on the integrity of the judicial officer concerned.
The matter has now been directed to be placed before the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court for administrative proceedings against Jasveer Singh Yadav, who was serving as a civil judge (senior division) in Ghaziabad at the relevant time.
The ruling serves as a stern reminder that judicial accountability is integral to maintaining public confidence in the justice delivery system, and that any departure from established legal principles will be subjected to strict scrutiny.
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