Delhi High Court Dismisses Plea to Review Suspension of Chandigarh DRT Officer
While working as a judicial officer in the district judiciary, Dhonchak had earned the reputation of being an ‘activist judge’. He retired from service in 2021 and was later appointed as Presiding Officer of DRT-II Chandigarh.
The Delhi High Court dismissed the review of decision dated 08.10.2023 that dismissed SLP (Civil) 4095/2024 upholding the suspension of retired judicial officer and former Presiding Officer Debts Recovery Tribunal (DRT)-II Chandigarh MM Dhonchak.
“A perusal of the Judgment reveals that there is no error apparent on the face of the record calling for review of the impugned orders whereby the suspension of the appellant was upheld.
The Appellant [Dhonchak] has failed to bring to the notice of this Court any error apparent on the face of the record or any other ground for granting him the relief of review. On the contrary, the Review Petition at best seeks reconsideration of the findings already recorded against him in the Judgment which is beyond the scope of review,” the Division Bench of Justices Vivek Chaudhary and Tejas Karia said in the order issued on October 16.
The retired judge was initially suspended on February 13 until May 8, 2025 pending an inquiry conducted by the Chief Justice of Uttarakhand High Court Ravindra Kumar Mani respecting certain allegations of misconduct against him.
Retired judge MM Dhonchak was appointed as the Presiding Officer of DRT-II Chandigarh on February 20, 2022 after he retired from service in 2021. During his tenure, several complaints were filed by the DRT Bar Association, Chandigarh against him for misconduct. He was investigated by the Chairperson, Debts Recovery Appellate Tribunal (DRAT), Delhi who has jurisdiction over DRTs.
The Bar Association went on to abstain from work, and eventually filed a writ petition before the Punjab and Haryana High Court alleging that adverse orders were passed against several lawyers by him. In October 2023, the High Court observed that there was bad blood between Dhonchak and the Bar Association. It restrained him from passing adverse orders against any lawyer in pending matters.
Subsequently, Dhonchak approached the Supreme Court through a Special Leave Petition (SLP) against the High Court order and posted the matter for mediation. He withdrew the SLP leaving the matter to be decided by the DRAT Chairman.
On receiving a report dated July 10, 2023 (the preliminary report), the government set up a Search- cum-Selection Committee (SCSC). Pursuant to the recommendations of SCSC, an inquiry was ordered by the former Chief Justice of Jharkhand High Court Virender Singh.
Dhonchak was suspended on February 13, 2024 in accordance with the report of SCSC recommending suspension till the completion of inquiry. His suspension was extended till November 12, 2024 on May 13, 2024 and then till May 8, 2025 on November 5, 20 24 on the review conducted by the Suspension Review Committee (SRC).
The High Court had dismissed his writ petition challenging his suspension in September 2025. It later dismissed his appeal against the order in August 2026.
Seeking review against both the orders, Dhonchak contended that there were errors apparent on the face of the record.
Dismissing the pleas for seeking review, the Delhi High Court said that there was no instance where his pleadings and written arguments were not considered by the court in the judgment. “Specifically, we find no failure on part of the Court to deal with the appellant’s claim for enhanced subsistence allowance as alleged by him because the appellant had not made any prayer for the same,” the Court added.
Dhonchak was represented by Advocate Balraj Singh Malik while the Central government was represented by CGSC Pratima Lakra and Shailendra Kumar Mishra.
