Justice Dharam Chand Chaudhary

Some Lesser Known Facts About Justice Dharam Chand Chaudhary

• Dharam Chand Chaudhary is a former Judge of Himachal Pradesh High Court (2012-2020) who became the Head of Department of the Chandigarh Regional Bench of the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) in 2022. He served as an Acting Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh High Court in 2019. In 2023, Chaudhary’s transfer from AFT’s Chandigarh bench to the Kolkata bench caused a stir as the AFT Chandigarh Bar Association alleged that the transfer was “a direct assault on the independence of judicial functioning” of the AFT.

• He was born into a family of farmers with a humble background in Lohara village in the Balh Tehsil of the Mandi district in Himachal Pradesh, where he completed his primary schooling.

• After completing his formal education, he enrolled as an advocate on 10 May 1983.

• Before being appointed additional and district judge in 1995, Justice Chaudhary practised as an advocate in the High Court of Himachal Pradesh, Courts Subordinate, and the now-abolished HP State Administrative Tribunal for 12 years. He appeared in the high court in civil, criminal, constitutional, labour, company and service matters.

• Apart from that, he was a standing counsel for Palampur Agriculture University, NHPC, Kangra Cooperative Bank and other organisations. Additionally, he was empanelled as an advocate on the panel of United Commercial Bank to conduct cases on its behalf in the High Court of Himachal Pradesh.

• He also held many key posts in the Bar Association from 1986 to 1995, including Treasurer (1986-87), Secretary (1989-1991), Vice President, and President (1993-1994). He became a non-official member of the Council of Law Reporting, High Court of HP for a period of three years in 1994-95.

• He entered the HP Higher Judicial Services when he was appointed as Additional District and Sessions Judge by way of direct recruitment on 1 August 1995.

  

• He was appointed as an Additional District & Sessions Judge, Kullu (Independent Charge), Civil & Sessions Division Mandi, Kullu and Lahaul & Spiti Districts at Mandi in September 1995.

• In June 1997, he was appointed as an Additional District & Sessions Judge, Civil & Sessions Division, Shimla, and in December 1999, he became the District and Sessions Judge (Inspection) on the Establishment of the Registry of the High Court of HP.

• He has held the positions of District and Sessions Judge, Civil and Sessions Division, Hamirpur (2001), President, District Consumer Fora, Mandi, Kullu and Lahaul & Spiti Districts at Mandi (2004), and District & Sessions Judge, Kullu & Lahaul and Spiti Civil & Sessions Division at Kullu (2006).

• He was appointed Registrar (Rules)-cum-Principal Secretary to Hon’ble the Chief Justice, High Court of Himachal Pradesh in December 2006.

• In June 2008, he was re-designated as Registrar (Vigilance)-cum Principal Secretary to Hon’ble the Chief Justice with charge of Central Project Coordinator, E-Court Project, Supreme Court of India. Meanwhile, he also took on the role of Secretary of the Himachal Pradesh High Court Legal Services Committee.

• He remained Registrar General-cum-Principal Secretary to Hon’ble the Chief Justice, High Court of Himachal Pradesh from October 2010 to January 2012.

• He served as the Judge of Himachal Pradesh High Court from 21 January 2012 to 11 March 2020. He was elevated to the position of Additional Judge of the High Court of Himachal Pradesh on 21 January 2012 and sworn in as the Permanent Judge of the High Court of Himachal Pradesh on 18 January 2014.

  

• In 2016, his daughter, Vatsala Chaudhary, became the first woman judge from the Balh region.

• He has also served as Chairman of the Computer Committee (March 2014 – September 2016), High Court of Himachal Pradesh, Chairman of H.P. High Court Legal Services Committee, Shimla( August 2014 – November 2018), and President of Himachal Pradesh Judicial Academy  (October 2016 – November 2018).

• In 2018, he served as the Executive Chairman of HP State Legal Services Authority.

• He remained as Chairman/Member of various Committees constituted by Hon’ble the Chief Justice to run the administrative business during this period.

• In June 2019, he was appointed as Acting Chief Justice of the High Court of Himachal Pradesh.

  

• On 15 September 2021, he became a Judicial Member of the Armed Forces Tribunal in Delhi through the Ministry of Defence in New Delhi.

• On 18 September 2021, he started his role as a Judicial Member at the Regional Bench in Chandigarh.

• He has also been in charge of the Srinagar Bench of the AFT, located in Jammu.

• Chaudhary was appointed as the Head of Department of the Chandigarh Regional Bench of the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) in December 2022. The department deals with all service and criminal matters of personnel of all ranks of the three defence services of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and Chandigarh.

• While serving at the Chandigarh Bench of the AFT, Justice Chaudhary authored several significant judgments concerning military service and criminal cases involving the Armed Forces. His decisions often highlighted the need to provide support and compassion to disabled soldiers and military widows. In 2023, Justice Chaudhary repeatedly issued orders directing the Ministry of Defence to implement a 2017 decision to ensure the payment of pensions owed to some Naib Subedars, who are among the lowest-ranked JCOs. As a result, Chaudhary was transferred from the Armed Forces Tribunal’s (AFT) Chandigarh bench to Kolkata. On 26 September 2023, the AFT Chandigarh Bar Association filed a petition to stop the transfer and initiated an indefinite strike. The association contacted Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud twice, expressing concerns that the transfer amounted to a direct challenge to the independence of the AFT’s judicial operations. The Association alleged that the transfer was a response to the strict orders issued by Justice Chaudhary against senior government officials in the Ministry of Defence (MoD). By 28 September, the Bar Association of the Armed Forces Tribunal’s Chandigarh Bench received support from their counterparts in Jammu and Lucknow, as well as from ex-servicemen, who joined in the protest against Justice Chaudhary’s transfer. On 9 October 2023, the Supreme Court temporarily suspended Justice Chaudhary’s transfer and instructed the tribunal’s chairperson to provide a confidential report explaining the reasons for the transfer. The chairperson cited a shortage of judicial members at the AFT Kolkata Bench as the rationale, with the Chandigarh Bench having a surplus of judicial members. Subsequently, on 13 October 2023, the Supreme Court rejected the petition filed by the AFT Chandigarh Bar Association to halt Justice Chaudhary’s transfer. However, the Court asked the Central government to respond to the request for reevaluating the authority of the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) and its relationship with the Union Ministry of Defence (MOD).