The Supreme Court has issued a notice to the Jharkhand High Court after a woman judicial officer raised serious concerns over adverse remarks in her Annual Confidential Report (ACR), which she claims were made after she filed a plea challenging the rejection of her childcare leave request.
The matter was heard by a vacation bench of Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and Justice Manmohan on June 11, 2025. The woman judge, who is an Additional District Judge, belongs to the Scheduled Caste category and is also a single parent.
Earlier, on May 29, a bench headed by Chief Justice of India BR Gavai and Justice AG Masih had issued notice to the State of Jharkhand and the Jharkhand High Court on her original writ petition. She had applied for 194 days of childcare leave from June to December, but as per her claim, she was granted only 92 days of leave without any valid explanation.
The petitioner asserted her entitlement, saying:
"As per the Child Care Leave Rules, I am entitled to 730 days of leave. I had requested only 194 days."
Her counsel also submitted that after her petition, she was informed of new ACR entries, which reflected the need for performance counselling.
He argued:
"Now there are entries in my ACR… This happened after I filed the writ petition. I belong to the SC category. I have had an illustrious career. I have disposed of more than 4,660 cases. One of the best performing officers, my lord."
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In response, Justice Manmohan said that the issue related to ACR was not part of the original petition and should be raised by a separate interlocutory application (IA). It was pointed out that such an IA has already been filed.
On behalf of the Jharkhand High Court, the opposing counsel clarified:
“This is linked to the previous transfer order. The officer was granted leave of 92 days. The 730 days are cumulative over the entire career, not to be taken in one go.”
He further argued:
“If district judges start taking 8 months of leave at once, the administration of justice will be badly affected.”
After arguments, the Court accepted the IA and issued notice to the High Court.
Court order:
“As a consequence of our order dated 06-06-2025, the respondent High Court filed an affidavit stating that the petitioner’s application for childcare leave has been reconsidered and he has been granted 92 days leave from 10-06-2025 to 09-09-2025, including permission to leave headquarters.”
However, the petitioner reiterated that he had applied for 194 days and raised concerns over the ACR dated 09-05-2025, which he claimed was vindictive in nature. The Court directed the respondent to file its reply to both the main petition and the IA within four weeks. The matter will be heard again in the first week of August.
Case Details: KASHIKA M PRASAD Vs STATE OF JHARKHAND|W.P.(C) No. 554/2025
