Bhubaneswar, Sept. 16 -- The Orissa high court has ordered the immediate reinstatement of a woman judicial officer whose resignation was accepted by the Odisha government after her requests for a transfer to Bhubaneswar to care for her autistic son went unheeded, holding that her resignation was not voluntary but made under duress.

A division bench of Justice Manash Ranjan Pathak and Justice Sibo Sankar Mishra quashed a law department notification issued on January 2, 2023, relieving judicial officer Ipsita Mohanty from service, and directed the state to restore her as additional civil judge (junior division)-cum-SDJM with continuity of service.

The court said Mohanty's resignation, submitted on November 29, 2022, was driven by "compell...