Allahabad

Ko kahi sakai Prayag prabhau

My friend Asif Azmi ( email asifazmi@hotmail.com ), who lives in Delhi, and is like a younger brother to me, is shortly visiting my native town Allahabad. He has asked me whether I wanted to send any message to the people of Allahabad. This is the reply I sent him :

Please convey to Allahabadis my very best wishes. Whatever I am today is due to Allahabad and Allahabadis.

Though a middle size town, it has produced great statesmen like Pt. Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, etc, great poets like Akbar Allahabadi, Firaq Gorakhpuri, Nirala, Mahadevi Verma, etc. great educators like Dr.Ganga Nath Jha, Dr. Amar Nath Jha, Dr. Dustoor, Dr. Meghnad Saha, Dr Krishnan, etc  great lawyers like Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru, Motila Nehru, Pearey Lal Banerji, Pt. Kanhaiya Lal Mishra, etc, etc

 I spent about 55 of my 69 years of life in Allahabad, and learnt at the feet of many great thinkers. Though separated from Allahabad for several years now ( after my appointment as Chief Justice of Madras High Court in 2004, and later as Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, Judge of the Supreme Court, and Chairman, Press Council of India, my heart was always in Allahabad.

 Allahabad ( Prayag ) was the city where Lord Rama came first after his exile from Ayodhya, and met Rishi Bharadwaj in his ashram at the Sangam.

Tulsidas has rightly written in 'Ramcharitmanas' :

" Ko kahi sakai prayag prabhau

 Kalush punj kunjar mrigrau "

i.e.

" Who can say about the greatness of Prayag ?

  It destroys all sins, and is like a lion which kills an elephant "

Kailash Sethi

 In an earlier post, ' Reaching the age of sanyaas ', I had mentioned about my best friend, Kailash Sethi, who died some years ago in his home in Allahabad.

 Kailash and I were friends since our youth  He later joined the Indian Revenue Service of the Government of India, in the department of Customs and Central Excise and retired as a member of the Central Board of Customs and Central Excise.

 Kailash was a legend in his department, an outstanding officer, renowned for his high level of integrity and dynamism, and a hero to his subordinate officers.

 After my post mentioning him I received a message on facebook which I am copying ( without revealing the sender's name ) :

" Feb 27th, 7:12am

Re : Kailash Sethi

 Uncle Sir, my father was his ( Sethi Uncle's ) junior in the Department. He would often tell me anecdotes about Sethi Uncle and there were many. He was one of the most honest officers of the Central Government. Dishonest officers feared him like crazy just like the honest ones loved him.

 As the story goes, when he was Commissioner, all the junior officers would park their vehicles (which may have been procured through dubious means) at least a km away so as to escape his wrath. He once visited our place. At that time, even though he wasn't in the best of health, I remember he was still passionate about football and asked me to get my football boots and checked them thoroughly before letting me know that they were good. My mom would tell me about the his 4-5 pet dogs. Even after his retirement, my father made a trip or two to Allahabad just to see "Sethi sahab". Aunty even sent dad Sethi Uncle's photograph after his death. "

In his youth, Kailash's ambition was to join the Indian Air Force and become a fighter pilot flying jets. So he joined the National Defence Academy ( N.D.A. ) Kharakvasla as a cadet. Unfortunately he suffered an injury due to which he was discharged in his 3rd term in N.D.A. He came back to his home in Allahabad and was very depressed. I used to often go to meet him  at that time to console him. He often told me that whenever he sees an aeroplane in the sky he gets dejected, wishing that he had  been flying one of these aircrafts.

 Kailash's father, Mr.A.N. Sethi, was from that part of Punjab which is now in Pakistan. During British days he had been a contractor to the British army, and made a lot of money in his business, enough to enable him to retire early. He bought a huge house at 1 Sapru Road ( Club Road, in British Times ) Allahabad before Partition, and settled down there with his family. Kailash was the youngest of his 3 sons.

 Mr. A.N. Sethi was so regular in his habits that one could set his watch according to when he went for his morning walk, when he had lunch and dinner, when he sat down in the evening for his two pegs of whiskey with fried fish. I was a regular visitor to the house ( just as Kailash was a regular visitor to my house on Tashkent Marg ).

 Later, Kailash joined the Allahabad University, and, as I have mentioned in my earlier post, we played a lot of football, hockey and tennis together. Kailash topped in the Ll.B. examination of 1968 from Allahabad University ( I had topped in 1967 ).

  Later, Kailash sat for the competitive examinations and was selected for the Indian Revenue Service..

 I had joined a Solicitors' firm ( Fowler&Co.) in Calcutta in 1969, and Kailash was posted as an Asst. Collector in Calcutta. While I stayed with a relative, he stayed in the Y.M.C.A. on Chowringhee Road. My office was at 12 Govt. Place East, near Dalhousie Square. After my office hours were over, I would often walk down to the Y.M.C.A. to meet Kailash and some other friends from Allahabad who were staying there. On weekends we would sometimes go by train to the Dunlop Co. Estate at Shahganj, where we had friends with whom we spent time, swimming, playing tennis, etc

 I later came back to Allahabad to practise in the High Court, and Kailash, being a government servant, was posted to various places, but we met off and on.

  Kailash was a hero to his junior officers, and a terror to crooked businessmen and crooked officials. In a department which normally does not enjoy a high reputation for integrity, he was a shining beacon of uprightness to his juniors. Wherever he was posted, the revenue collections went up.

 The problem with him, and I told this to him repeatedly, was that he often took cudgels with powerful people. I would often tell him that the present system in India is so corrupt that it is beyond redemption, and so he should not think he can single handedly abolish corruption, and would only get into trouble if he tries to do so. But he would not listen. He even secretly got the telephones of some powerful people tapped ( to get evidence of their corrupt dealings ). These people got to know about it, and then they really went after him. They got him posted to some remote, insignificant places, and got enquiries instituted against him.

 The result was that Kailash became totally demoralized and depressed. He contracted some rare ailment, and later became bed ridden.

 After retirement he went back to his home in Allahabad, with which he was emotionally attached. Whenever I went to Allahabad I always went to meet him. Although he was my age he could hardly get up from bed. He would tell me " Mantu ( my nickname ), i don't want to live any more "

 He died a few years back. And a part of me died with him.

Faiz Ahmed Faiz

13/2/2015

Today, 13th February  is the birth anniversary of the great Urdu poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz, whom I regard as the greatest Urdu poet of the 20th century ( though I have also great regard for other Urdu poets like Firaq Gorakhpuri ).

 In 1981, when I was a lawyer in Allahabad High Court, Faiz Saheb came to Allahabad, my home town.

 A function was organized in his honour in the Allahabad University lawns. The University lawns are massive, and so was the crowd that evening. There were many poets on the dias that day, Firaq Gorakhpuri, Mahadevi Verma, etc.and of course, Faiz Saheb. It was like a galaxy of poetic stars on the firmament. Firaq Saheb  was so old that though mentally alert, he could not walk, and so he had to be carried by some University boys onto the dias.

 Since I am very fond of Urdu poetry, and since I am particularly fond of the poetry of Faiz, I went to the function. I took along with me my son Vikram, who was then only 6 years old, knowing that he would not be able to understand anything, but yet in later life he could tell his friends that he had seen Faiz and Firaq.

  The function began with the convenor reciting a sher of Firaq :

" Aane waali nuslein tumse rashk kareingi hum aasron

  Jab woh jaanengi ki tumne Firaq ko dekha hai "

 He then said that he would like to slightly alter the sher and make it :

" Aane waali nuslein tumse rashk kareingi hum aasron

  Jab woh jaanengi tumne Faiz, Firaq aur Mahadevi ko dekha hai " :

 Thereafter  a well known nazm by Faiz, ' Gulon mein rang bhare baad-e-naubahaar chale '. was sung by some Allahabad University girls.

 I have heard that song sung innumerable times, but I have never heard it sung as beautifully as it was sung that memorable evening 34 years ago by the Allahabad University girls.

 The poets on the dias then recited some of their poems. The last to be called upon, and the one we were really waiting for, was Faiz Saheb himself.

 There was massive cheering when Faiz Saheb rose to speak. Here was the man who had stood by his principles all his life, who was even jailed for several years in Pakistan by the martial law regime, falsely implicated in the Rawalpindi Conspiracy case, who had written " Bol ki lab azad hain tere, bol zubaan ab tak teri hai ". He was a hero in our eyes.

 Faiz Saheb first said that he was proud to be in Allahabad, the city of Rishi Bharadwaj, where Lord Rama had come during his exile from Ayodhya, and of other Rishis and Munis. He then related to us about his association with the Progressive Writers Association in the 1930s and the work he had done. He ended by reciting to us some of his kalaam.

 The recollection of that memorable evening is indelibly etched into my memory.

 As I mentioned before, Faiz Saheb is my favourite Urdu poet of the 20th century ( though I regard Mirza Ghalib the greatest Urdu poet of all times ). So I I quoted him in some judgments of mine in the Supreme Court, beginning the judgment with his sher ( couplet ).

 When I decided to issue an appeal through my judgment to the Pakistan Government to release an Indian citizen, Gopal Das, who was undergoing a life sentence in Pakistan for espionage, and had been in Pakistani jails for 27 years I began with a couplet of Faiz :  

" Qafas udas hai yaaron, saba se kuch to kaho

Kaheen to beher-e-khuda aaj zikr-e-yaar chale "

The sher had such a powerful impact on the Pakistani authorities that they announced that the Pakistan Government would honour the appeal made by the Indian Supreme Court. Gopal Das was released a few days thereafter and he came back to India and has got married.

 This was unprecedented. Never perhaps in world judicial history was such an appeal made by any Court, and never was it so honoured.Such is the power of Urdu poetry.

 In another judgment in the Supreme Court I again began by quoting a sher by Faiz :

" Bane hain ahal-e-hawas muddai bhi munsif bhi

  Kise vakeel karein kisse munsifi chaahen ? "

i.e.

" When selfish people are both petitioners and judges

Whom should I make my lawyer ? From whom should I seek justice ? "

I was informed by a lawyer friend who went to Pakistan soon after I gave the judgment quoting the above sher that printouts of my judgment were being distributed like hot cakes in Lahore, Karachi, etc. I was told by another friend that when one of my judgments was cited in a High Court in Pakistan, the Judge asked the lawyer " Is he the same Judge who quotes Faiz ? "

 And let me end this post by mentioning a mischief I did over 40 years ago, but which I have not revealed to anyone till now.

 This incident happened in the year 1972 or 1973. I was then a very junior lawyer in Allahabad High Court. When I have so much fire in me even now at the age of 69, you can imagine the fire in me at the age of 26 or so.

 It so happened that a very 'dismissing  judge ' ( if I may use the term ) came to the Allahabad High Court, having been elevated from the subordinate judiciary. He would dismiss almost all petitions and appeals. Some lawyers came to me and said " Katju Saheb, bachaiye, yeh to hamein barbaad kar dega  " ( Katju Saheb, save us , this Judge will ruin us " ). I told them not to worry.

 That evening I wrote a leaflet with the heading " High Court ya kasai ghar ? ' ( i.e. ' High Court or Slaughterhouse ?' ). . Below that I quoted the sher of Faiz mentioned above ( Bane hai ahal-e-hawas muddai bhi munsif bhi ---). I then wrote that ever since this Judge has come he has been dismissing almost all cases, making the High Court like a slaughterhouse, etc, etc.

  This leaflet was secretly printed in some press, and the next morning long before the Court could assemble was distributed widely in the High Court premises. In each of the Courtrooms a copy was placed on the Judges' desk, and in the front row where mostly the senior lawyers would sit. When the Judges came into their Courtrooms they saw the leaflet, read it, and there was an uproar. Many Judges retired to their chambers saying " Yeh kya badtameezi hai ? " ( " What is this impertinence ? )

 However, the leaflet had its effect, and the judge became a bit more liberal after that.

The credit again must go to Faiz !

The Shahar Qazi of Allahabad

Syed Maqbool Hasan has been the Shahar Qazi in Allahabad for over half a century.

Although he is also the Imam ( head priest) of Jama Masjid in Allahabad, he has never taken any money from the funds of Jama Masjid. He earned his livelihood as an ordinary stamp vendor in Allahabad High Court. When I was a lawyer there ( 1970-1991) I used to see him sitting at the bottom of the stairs below the Bar Association Library, selling stamps. He wore a simple kurta pyjama, and on looking at him one could never make out that he is the Shahar Qazi.

Until he agrees, Eid cannot be declared in Allahabad. Since for declaring Eid 2 respectable Muslims must state that they have sighted the moon, he rigorously cross examines the persons claiming that they have seen the moon, and he also strictly applies the parameters required before declaring Eid. His integrity is of such a high order that everyone in Allahabad accepts his verdict.

Because of old age ( he must be now in his late 80s ) he has now retired, but before that he was coming to the High Court on a bicycle every working day.

In the 1986 communal riots in Allahabad he refused to take any police security, although it was offered to him. He lived a simple life, and put all the money he earned in educating his children. Today one of his sons is in U.S.A. and the other children are also well settled, some in business, and others in other vocations.

Pandit Kanhaiyya Lal Mishra in the Bombay High Court

In the 1950s and 1960s Pandit Kanhaiyya Lal Mishra ( 1903-1975 ) strode like a colossus in the Allahabad High Court bar. He was Advocate General of U.P.for about 15 years from 1952 onwards. In 1957 he was offered Judgeship of the Supreme Court, which he declined.

He had been brilliant since his youth. When he sat for the I.C.S. examination he got an unbelieveble 100% in the English paper . The well known writer and critic, Sir Arthur Quiller Couch, who had examined Kanhaiyya Lal Mishra's answer copy, wrote to Prof. Dunn of the Allahabad University " It is Englishmen who conquered India, but it is Kanhaiyya Lal Mishra who has conquered English".

I heard Pt. Kanhaiyya Lal arguing in the Allahabad High Court, though in his declining years, but even then his command over the English language and articulation was marvellous. I simply cannot describe it, it had to be heard to be believed !

As Advocate General he appeared for the State of U.P. against the well known socialist leader, Ram Manohar Lohia, who was in jail and had challenged his detention order before the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court. Lohia had decided to argue his case himself, but since he had no knowledge of law, Pt Kanhaiyya Lal would search for the relevant case law and carry the judgments to the jail where Lohia was detained, and tell Lohia the points and judgments in his favour. When people came to know of this they enquired from him why he was helping his opponent ? Pt. Kanhaiyya Lal replied that as a law officer he regarded his job not so much as winning a case as helping the Court to arrive at a correct judgment, and unless the version of both sides was known the truth could not be arrived at.

Pt. Kanhaiyya Lal could have easily become one of the top lawyers in the Supreme Court, but he was not prepared to shift from Allahabad, which he loved.

Once he went to argue a case in the Supreme Court, and after hearing him, Justice S.R. Das,himself a great jurist, remarked in Court " Mr. Mishra , why do you not come more often to the Supreme Court ? In the cases you appear it raises the standard of our judgments ".

I may now relate the occasion when Pt. Kanhaiyya Lal went to argue a case before the Bombay High Court.

The facts of the case were as follows :
The U.P. Legislature had ordered arrest of Mr. R.K. Karanjia,the then Editor of 'Blitz' weekly for the alleged wrong reporting of some proceeding of the U.P.Legislature. Mr. Karanjia challenged the order of the U.P. Legislature by filing a petition under Article 32 of the Constitution before the Supreme Court. That petition was allowed by the Supreme Court on the ground that Mr. Karanjia had not been produced before a Magistrate within 24 hours of arrest, as required by Article 22(2) of the Constitution.

Mr. Karanjia then filed a suit for damages against (1) The Bombay police, and (2) the U.P. Legislature. It was heard by a Single judge, Acting Chief Justice Koyaji.

Eminent lawyers appeared in the case. Mr. Palkhivala appeared for Mr. Karanjia, Mr. Seervai for the Bombay police, and Pt. Kanhaiyya Lal Mishra for the U.P. Legislature.

Bombay lawyers used to regard Allahabad lawyers as not their equals. So they did not attach much importance to Pt. Kanhaiyya Lal's appearance in the case, and thought that most of the time he will only be a spectator, while the real fight will be between the two giants, Palkhivala and Seervai.

Palkhivala argued first ,for Karanjia.

Then came the turn of Pt. Kanhaiyya Lal. He argued for 3 or 4 days for the U.P. Legislature. At the end of the first day Seervai sent a message to the entire Bombay bar as well as the Bombay University that a miracle was taking place in the Court of Justice Koyaji, and if they wanted to know what advocacy was they should give up everything they were doing and come to hear the Advocate General of U.P. in the Court of Justice Koyaji. On receiving this message the Bombay University declared closure so that the teachers and students could hear Pt. Kanhaiyya Lal. Every one flocked to the Courtroom of Justice Koyaji to hear Pt. Kanhaiyya Lal.

After Pt. Kanhaiyya Lal finished his arguments, Mr.Seervai rose to address the Court, on behalf of the Bombay police.. He said " Before I begin my arguments I would like to express my feelings to Your Lordship. When the Advocate General of U.P. had come to my chambers for consultation before this case started, he was so quiet that I thought he will not contribute anything., but after hearing his arguments I feel that even if I argue my arguments will only wash off the beautiful varnish with which he has coated this case ". After arguments were over justice Koyaji remarked " I could not assimilate all that Mr. Mishra argued, but I wish to say that never in my long career as a Judge have I ever heard such an argument ".

The suit was dismissed by Justice Koyaji.

An appeal was then filed by Karanjia before a division bench of the Bombay High Court consisting of Chief Justice Chagla and another Hon'ble Judge.

Mr. Palkhivala, who again appeared for Karanjia began his argument by saying that his client had a strong case, and the suit had been wrongly dismissed by the learned Single Judge. To this Chief Justice Chagla remarked :" If your client had a strong case why has his suit been dismissed ?". Mr. Palkhivala replied " Because Mr. Mishra had mesmerized the learned Single Judge ". The Chief Justice then observed " In that case he may mesmerize us ". After hearing arguments the appeal was dismissed.

After the case was finally over the Bombay lawyers asked " Mr Mishra, is there any other lawyer like you in the Allahabad High Court ?". Pt Kanhaiyya Lal replied " there are dozens of lawyers like me in the Allahabad High Court".