Headnotes
A 1997-batch Odisha Judicial Service officer who served as Registrar (Judicial) for only 42 days in 2021 received adverse CCR entries, marked "average" and "not trustworthy," based on charges in a disciplinary proceeding that the High Court itself later quashed in a separate petition.
Full Judgment Text
FACTS:
Lalit Kumar Dash, a 1997-batch Odisha Judicial Service officer, served as Registrar (Judicial) for only 42 days in 2021. He subsequently received adverse remarks in his annual Confidential Character Roll (CCR) — being marked "average" and described as "not trustworthy" — based on serious charges that were the subject of a disciplinary proceeding against him.
That disciplinary proceeding, along with the finding of guilt and major penalty imposed on Dash, was separately quashed by the Orissa High Court earlier in 2026. Dash then challenged the adverse CCR entries, arguing that since the disciplinary charges underlying them had been annulled, the entries could no longer stand, and separately that the entries violated the minimum four-month period ordinarily required for a CCR assessment.
COURT'S ANALYSIS:
A Division Bench of Justice Manash Ranjan Pathak and Justice Sibo Sankar Mishra found a strong case in Dash's favour, particularly given the subsequent quashing of the disciplinary proceeding that had formed the basis for the adverse entries.
The Bench observed: "the adverse materials which constituted the basis for recording the adverse entry in the petitioner's CCR having failed to withstand the scrutiny of law are washed away."
HOLDING:
The Orissa High Court allowed the petition to the extent of referring the matter to the Chief Justice for assessment of whether Dash's representations against the adverse CCR entries need to be reconsidered by the Full Court, in light of the disciplinary proceeding's annulment.
Source: LiveLaw, "'Basis Washed Away': Orissa High Court Directs Reconsideration Of Judge's Adverse Service Record," September 10, 2026.
Lalit Kumar Dash, a 1997-batch Odisha Judicial Service officer, served as Registrar (Judicial) for only 42 days in 2021. He subsequently received adverse remarks in his annual Confidential Character Roll (CCR) — being marked "average" and described as "not trustworthy" — based on serious charges that were the subject of a disciplinary proceeding against him.
That disciplinary proceeding, along with the finding of guilt and major penalty imposed on Dash, was separately quashed by the Orissa High Court earlier in 2026. Dash then challenged the adverse CCR entries, arguing that since the disciplinary charges underlying them had been annulled, the entries could no longer stand, and separately that the entries violated the minimum four-month period ordinarily required for a CCR assessment.
COURT'S ANALYSIS:
A Division Bench of Justice Manash Ranjan Pathak and Justice Sibo Sankar Mishra found a strong case in Dash's favour, particularly given the subsequent quashing of the disciplinary proceeding that had formed the basis for the adverse entries.
The Bench observed: "the adverse materials which constituted the basis for recording the adverse entry in the petitioner's CCR having failed to withstand the scrutiny of law are washed away."
HOLDING:
The Orissa High Court allowed the petition to the extent of referring the matter to the Chief Justice for assessment of whether Dash's representations against the adverse CCR entries need to be reconsidered by the Full Court, in light of the disciplinary proceeding's annulment.
Source: LiveLaw, "'Basis Washed Away': Orissa High Court Directs Reconsideration Of Judge's Adverse Service Record," September 10, 2026.
Cases Cited & References
- 1. 2026 LiveLaw (Ori) 108