A tribunal judge has been issued with formal advice for misconduct after he stood in a local election. The Judicial Conduct Investigations Office said that Satvinder Juss stood as a paper candidate, without campaigning, distributing materials, or referring to his judicial role.
However a JCIO spokesperson said: ‘The guide to judicial conduct provides that judicial office holders should avoid activity which could compromise, or appear to compromise, their impartiality.
‘Whilst there is no general prohibition on political activity for fee-paid judicial holders, they are expected to refrain from any political activity which would conflict with their judicial role or be seen to compromise their impartiality.’
Juss said that, at the relevant time, he considered standing as a candidate in a local election was permissible for a fee-paid judge, sitting in retirement.
The JCIO said Juss ‘accepted that his candidacy was inconsistent with the guide to judicial conduct. He subsequently apologised and expressed regret’.
An investigation found Juss had not referred to his judicial status in the relevant election material but ‘this was nonetheless readily ascertainable, particularly in the context of his public candidacy’.
Standing as a candidate in a local election, the investigation found, meant Juss ‘breached the expectation that fee-paid judges refrain from political activity that could compromise judicial impartiality, and that this amounted to misconduct’.
The lady chief justice and lord chancellor, in light of Juss’ acknowledgment of wrongdoing and remedial steps, issued the judge with formal advice as the appropriate and proportionate sanction.
