LAHORE: The Lahore High Court has dismissed an appeal of a judicial officer removed from service for granting post-arrest bail to a drug peddler relying on a fake report of a chemical examiner and in violation of rules set by judgements of the Supreme Court.

Gabriel Francis was appointed as an additional district & sessions judge in 2004 and performed his duty until 2010. During the service, the appellant granted post-arrest bail to an accused in a criminal case registered at the Kotwali police station, Sialkot district, under section 9 of the Control of Narcotic Substances Act, 1997 while relying on a fake report of the chemical examiner.

Following recommendations of an LHC division bench and orders of the administration committee, the authority concerned, disciplinary proceedings were initiated against the judicial officer on the charge of misconduct.

The inquiry officer recommended imposition of major penalty of dismissal from service upon the judge, which was endorsed by the authority.

The removed judge filed his service appeal before the Punjab Subordinate Judiciary Service Tribunal comprising three judges of the LHC.

The appellant submitted that the respondent authority did not act in letter and spirit pursuant to the judgements passed by the tribunal and directions issued by the Supreme Court.

In its verdict, the service tribunal observed that it was evident from the record that the authority considered the entire case of the appellant in depth by analyzing the complete material available and reached to a reasoned and conscious decision for inflicting major penalty of dismissal from service.

Justice Abid Hussain Chattha, who authored the verdict, said the moot question before the tribunal was not with respect to a judicial order passed in good faith which can be condoned for inadvertent human error, incompetency or error of judgment, rather, it was regarding passing of a judicial order by the appellant/judge having an experience of six years to his credit by relying upon a photocopy of chemical examiner, which was explicitly prohibited in terms of the prescribed rules.

He observed that the act of the appellant to deviate from the prescribed procedure was coupled with irrefutable evidence which suggested that the bail granting order was maneuvered and manipulated for extraneous considerations.

The author judge noted that the evidence surely demonstrated that the appellant was hand in glove with the accused.

Justice Chattha further observed that there were undeniable facts through which it was established that the appellant/judge had acquired a general reputation of being corrupt.

“In cases where general reputation of corruption is attributed to an officer, the superior courts have leaned in favour of imposing the penalty of compulsory retirement,” he maintained.

“We are not inclined to agree that the penalty imposed upon the appellant is harsh or does not commensurate with the charge established against him,” the three-member tribunal said in its verdict dismissing the appeal.

Justice Sajid Mehmood Sethi is chairman and Justice Rasaal Hasan Syed is senior member of the service tribunal.

Published in Dawn, February 16th, 2025