SC rolls back its order removing Allahabad HC judge from hearing criminal cases

Supreme Court on Friday (August 8, 2025) rolled back its order removing Allahabad High Court Justice Prashant Kumar from hearing criminal cases after the Chief Justice of India intervened with a letter requesting for a rebook into the order.

As many as 13 judges of the Allahabad High Court had written to Allahabad High Court Chief Justice Arun Bhansali on Thursday (August 7, 2025), requesting the convening of a Full Court meeting and urging that the Apex Court’s order removing Justice Prashant Kumar from the criminal roster not be implemented.

A bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and R. Mahadevan, on August 4, 2025, directed the Allahabad high court administration to remove Justice Prashant Kumar from the criminal roster, while hearing an appeal filed by private firm seeking to quash criminal proceedings initiated over it in a commercial dispute.

“We are at our wits’ end to understand what is wrong with the Indian judiciary at the level of the High Court. At times we are left wondering whether such orders are passed on some extraneous considerations or it is sheer ignorance of law. Whatever it be, passing of such absurd and erroneous orders is something unpardonable,” the Bench had written in its 19-page order.