'Punishing the Person on Lowest Rung': Ex-Judges Slam Suspension of HC 'Jamadar'

The Allahabad High Court had suspended a 'jamadar' for using Paytm to allegedly receive tips from lawyers.

(Photo: Deekhsha Malhotra/Altered by The Quint)

The Allahabad High Court, via a notification dated 29 November, said that it had suspended a bundle-lifter, colloquially referred to as "Court Jamadar," with immediate effect for using his Paytm Wallet within court premises.

According to media reports, the employee was suspended for allegedly using the Paytm Wallet's QR Code to receive tips from lawyers.

Former High Court judges, while speaking to The Quint, termed the suspension “ridiculous” and criticised the decision as “punishing the person on the lowest rung of the system.”

“This is common practice: every judge when they were a lawyer would have tipped these jamadars too," Former Chief Justice of the Bombay and Rajasthan High Courts Pradeep Nandarajog told The Quint.

"Moreover, this bundle-lifter is not the only person involved in this transaction, but somehow, like almost every other time, the person on the lowest rung of the system has been punished."

Former Chief Justice of the Bombay and Rajasthan High Courts Pradeep Nandarajog

This is evident from the fact that the lawyers who give out the tip have not been suspended, but this court employee has.

Here’s What Happened:

The action was taken after Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal received a letter from Justice Ajit Kumar, with whom the concerned bundle-lifter is attached, recommending action against him.

Along with being suspended, the employee will be attached to the Nazarat Section (process serving agency) of the court and will not be permitted to leave the station without prior permission of the Allahabad High Court's Registrar General.

The suspension order, signed by Register General Ashish Garg, also says that:

• He will be paid subsistence allowance during the suspension period under the relevant provision of the court's Financial Hand Book (Vol. II).

• The subsistence payment, however, is subject to him furnishing a certificate to the effect that he is not engaged in any other employment, trade, profession, and occupation

Note: As per Fundamental Rule 53 of Part II to IV of Financial Hand Book Volumer II, a person under suspension will be entitled to 50 per cent of salary during the period of suspension.

But Why Do Lawyers Tip 'Jamadars' in Courts?

There could be multiple reasons, according to what former judges told The Quint.

Justice Nandarajog  pointed out that the bundle-lifter is often the only point of contact between the judge and the lawyers. Sometimes, lawyers tip them in order to have their files placed on one of the top layers of the pile.

“The system needs to be questioned and probably fixed but why punish a jamadar for this?” Nandrajog asked.

But sometimes the reason can be even more innocuous than this. Former Patna High Court Justice Anajana Prakash pointed towards yet another reason –

Sometimes when a hearing has gone well and the lawyers are happy, they tip the jamadars in a celebratory manner. 

“It’s nothing unusual. People do it all over India – even at hospitals when babies are born you tip the guards out of happiness, don’t you? Tipping in courts is something similar,” she said.

‘What’s Wrong With Using Paytm for Receiving Tips?’

“Why was a jamadar, who has taken the idea of receiving tips through Paytm from the ruling party’s mantra of digital india, made the scapegoat in this scenario?” Former Allahabad High Court Justice Amar Saran asked, in conversation with the Quint.

“I am confused as to what the court's priorities are. Maybe they feared that this casts the judicial system in a bad light,” he added.

Justice Nandarajog, too, commenting on the use of Paytm by the bundle-lifter, said that in times like these it is the most convenient thing to do. 

“The amount paid to them is nominal and people hardly carry loose change around. When you can make every other transaction through Paytm, then why not this?” he asked.