The Madras High Court lawyers and the prostitute

When I was the Chief Justice of Madras High Court, I sent a list of several lawyers for appointment as Judges in the High Court.

Evidently the DMK was not happy with my list since the names of pro-DMK lawyers was not in the list ( the names of pro-ADMK lawyers were also not in the list ).

The DMK was in power in the Central Government, as an ally of the Congress, so they did not allow these appointments to be made, and stalled the matter for about 6 months.

The lawyers whose names I had recommended ( one of them is now a Chief Justice of a High Court, and another is the senior most Tamilian Judge in the Madras High Court ), came to meet me at my residence one day.

They told me their predicament. I had recommended their names several months back, but yet they had not been appointed, and in the meantime their practice had suffered, as clients had stopped coming to them, thinking that the lawyer would soon become a Judge, and so any fees they would give him would go waste as they would have to engage another lawyer.

After hearing them, I told them a story.

There was once a prostitute in some place. One day it was announced that she was going to get married. So everyone in the area rejoiced. But later it was announced that the marriage had been cancelled. So she did not get married, and she also lost all her customers.

Having said this, I told the lawyers that they were like that prostitute.

On hearing this the lawyers said " Chief, what are you saying ? We are miserable, and you are comparing us to a prostitute "

I replied that I was only joking.

Later these lawyers were in fact appointed, but only after the Madras High Court Advocates Association filed a petition before the Supreme Court which directed their appointment.

Tamil in Madras High Court

I received a telephone call a short while back from a Tamilian lawyer in Chennai practising in the Madras High Court. He told me that the High Court lawyers in both benches of the Madras High Court, in Chennai and in Madurai,  are agitating for quite some time demanding that Tamil should be allowed in proceedings before the High Court. Some lawyers are on hunger strike, some have been arrested for disturbing proceedings in the Courts, and others are agitating in other ways.

 I believe that the demand of the lawyers is totally justified.

 In this connection I may refer to Article 348 (2) of the Indian Constitution which says :

" (2) Notwithstanding anything in sub-clause (a) of clause (1), the Governor of a State may, with the previous consent of the President, authorise the use of the Hindi language, or any other language used for any official purposes of the State, in proceedings in the High Court having its principal seat in that State:

Provided that nothing in this clause shall apply to any judgment, decree or order passed or made by such High Court. "

Pursuant to this Constitutional provision, the Official Languages Act, 1963 was enacted by Parliament, section 7 of which states :

" As from the appointed day or any day thereafter, the Governor of a State may, with the previous consent of the President, authorise the use of Hindi or the official language of the State, in addition to the English language, for the purpose of any judgment, decree or order passed or made by the High court for that State,  and where any judgment, decree or order is passed or made in any such language (other than the English language), it shall be accompanied by a translation of the same in the English language issued under the authority of the High Court. "

 Under these provisions  the states of U.P. Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan have permitted use of Hindi in Court proceedings and also for passing orders and judgments in the High Court. I myself used to speak often in Hindi in the Allahabad High Court, both as a lawyer and as a Judge.. There are some lawyers like Pt. Daya Shankar Mishra, a senior lawyer in the Allahabad High Court, who argue only in Hindi, and some Judges like late Justice P.S. Gupta who used to encourage lawyers to argue in Hindi, and used to pass judgments in Hindi.

 Why then  should other languages like Tamil, Bengali, Punjabi, Kannada, Malayalam,  Gujrati, Kashmiri, Marathi, Telugu, Oriya, Assamese  etc not be allowed in Court proceedings in the High Courts ? All languages in our country are equal, and need to be developed.So I fully support the demand of the Tamil lawyers.

 However, this should be subject to the following conditions :

(1) A lawyer should have the option to argue in Tamil or in English

(2) Some Judges come from other states who do not know Tamil. This category. would include the Chief Justice, because the policy is that the Chief Justice of the High Court must be from another state. Arguments before such Judges should be in English, otherwise he would not understand it.

(3) While judgments and orders by Judges should be permitted to be passed in Tamil, preferably they should be in English. This is because judgments of a particular High Court are often cited in other High Courts too. Although they are not binding in other High Courts, they have persuasive value. So unless they are in English, they may not be understood.

I am coming to Chennai to attend a function for release of a book on Mediation by senior lawyer, Mr. Sriram Panchu on 7th October, and intend to stay in Chennai for a few days. During that period I shall seek an appointment with the Chief Minister and Chief Justice and ask them to do the needful to permit use of Tamil in the Madras High Court.

 In the meantime I appeal to the lawyers to suspend their agitation for a while. I will personally take up their cause with the concerned authorities.

 I had been the Chief Justice of the Madras High Court ( from 2004 to 2005 ) and Tamilians gave me great respect and love. So even after I left the Court ( to take over as Chief Justice of Delhi High Court ), I have been trying to help the High Court even thereafter in whatever way I could

Justice P.Devadoss of the Madras High Court

 Recently there was a lot of controversy about Justice P.Devadoss of the Madras High Court who ordered a case of a rapist and his victim to be sent for mediation, evidently to see whether the victim would marry her rapist.

 I myself think the Judge should not have sent the case for mediation unless both parties wanted it. In the case in question the victim has resolutely refused mediation, and has refused to marry the man who raped her. Hence the order sending the case for mediation was clearly uncalled for.

 Perhaps realizing his error, the Judge, in a subsequent case where a grown up man had raped a 4 year old child, upheld the 10 year sentence awarded by the lower Court, calling the accused a 'vulture'.

 I remember P.Devadoss when I was Chief Justice of Madras High Court ( 2004-2005 ). At that time he was perhaps the Principal District Judge of some District Court in Tamilnadu.

 He was a legendary Judge, having the highest level of integrity, so much so that he had prohibited several relatives who were in politics from entering his house, as he did not want anyone in Tamilnadu to think that he was allied or close to any political party or politician. I had a very high opinion of him.

 I am saying this to request the public to forgive him for his bona fide mistake, and move on. Such Judges of such high integrity are becoming rare now.

 Lord Denning, the celebrated British Judge once said " The Judge has not been born who has not made a mistake ". Critics of Justice Devadoss should ponder over this statement.

http://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/chennai/Now-Judge-Says-Rapist-Doesnt-Need-Sympathy/2015/06/26/article2886795.ece1

To The Lawyers of Madras High Court

I was your Chief Justice, and still retain close affection and regard for you. I got invariable kindness and affection from you when I was your Chief Justice, so much so that I started regarding myself as a Tamilian. Naanum oru Tamilar.

However, your behaviour towards your Chief Justice, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, has caused me great pain I think your actions are totally unjustified and indefensible.

 From the Madras High Court I had been transferred in October 2005 as Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, and at that time Justice Kaul was a puisne Judge there. So I was his Chief Justice too, and I know him to be very upright, learned in law, and hard working.

 You are very lucky to get such a good Chief Justice. You should have seen to it that his tenure in Madras High Court was smooth and happy, but the way many of you have behaved is totally unacceptable, and entirely unexpected of lawyers of a High Court with such high traditions which have so distinguished it in the past..

http://m.timesofindia.com/india/Go-back-to-Kashmir-Madras-HC-lawyers-told-Chief-Justice/articleshow/46239719.cms

Naanum Oru Tamilar

I do not believe in rebirth. But if there were rebirths, I was certainly a Tamilian in one of my previous births. Whenever I go to Tamilnadu I feel I am going home, and feel at home there. I have lots of friends in Tamilnadu, and Tamilians have always given me a lot of love and respect, which is because of the kindness and generosity of their hearts. When meeting a Tamilian I often say :" naanum oru Tamilar " ( I, too, am a Tamilian ). and I mean it ( though I am also a Kashmiri, an M.P.ite, a U.P.ite, a Bengali, a Rajasthani, an Oriya, and a Punjabi, because of the association of my ancestors with those places ).

  While studying in Allahabad University, where I was from 1963-1967, I got this idea of learning Tamil, probably because I thought I should know my country, and Tamilnadu was furthest away in the south. So I joined a Tamil diploma course in the Allahabad University ( apart from pursuing my regular studies). My Tamil teacher was one Prof. Ranganathan, and he always wore a white turban and put on a tilak ( naamam) on his forehead. I remember the first words in Tamil which were in my Tamil book : " Tamilar Veeram " i.e. the bravery of the Tamil people.

 After I finished my studies in Allahabad University, I decided I needed to know more about Tamilnadu. So in !967 I went to Annamalai University in Tamilnadu, and joined a one year spoken Tamil diploma course there  ( I was told it was discontinued some years after I had left ).

   I remember that on approaching the University, there were vast stretches of water on both sides of the approach road, and many cocoanut trees.

  My Tamil teachers were Mr. Raja, and Mr. Shanmugam Pillai. When I went to Annamalai University after I became a Supreme Court Judge in 2006 I was told there that Mr. Raja had disappeared somewhere while he was alive, but I met members of his family.

  I was in Kambar Hostel. One of my room mates there was Venkat Subbu Reddy, about whom I had put up a previous post on facebook. He was from Pondicherry, and he later became a teacher, but has now retired, and looks after his farm. He had met me when I was leaving Tamilnadu to take over as Chief Justice of Delhi High Court in October 2005, and again when he came to meet me in Chennai this year.

 When I went to Annamalai University after becoming a Supreme Court Judge, I went to Kambar Hostel. The news of my coming had obviously reached the hostellers, who greeted me with loud cheering when I arrived.

  At Annamalai University I often used to go to the Chidambaram Temple , which is about 2 kms. from the University,on foot with some friends. I played a lot of football, my favourite game, in the University.

  Much later, I became the Chief Justice of Madras High Court in November 2004. At that time the High Court was in a very bad shape, for reasons which need not be mentioned, and I determined to set it right.

 My flight from Delhi was reaching Chennai at about 2 p.m. on a working day,and I telephoned the then Acting Chief Justice to request all the Hon'ble Judges of the High Court not to come to the airport to receive me because it would not be proper for Judges to leave their Courts during working hours. However, a large number of lawyers received me at Chennai airport. The Hon'ble Judges called on me in the evening after Court hours.

  I was given a warm welcome in the High Court, and in my speech I quoted from the Tirukkural, some verses I had learnt in my Tamil diploma course in Allahabad.

 On the very first day of my joining the Madras High Court, after the Court hours, the Registrar General of the High Court brought an old lady with white hair into my chamber. She could not speak English, and kept moving her hands indicating that there were small children in her house. The Registrar General told me that she was an employee of the High Court who had just retired after about 35 years service, and her son, who had small children was unemployed. I immediately told the Registrar General to give her son a job in the High Court

 When I went to Madurai, where a bench of the High Court had been set up a few months earlier, I was again given a warm welcome in the High Court. In my speech I referred to the famous Tamil epic Silappathihaaram of the poet Ilango, about which also I had read in my Tamil diploma course in Allahabad and  Annamalai University. I said that Kannagi had burnt the entire city of Madurai because injustice had been done to her husband, and therefore if you want to have peace and prosperity justice must always be done.

  During the lunch interval on the very first day at Madurai, two lawyers brought a young woman to my chamber, who was crying. The lawyers told me that her husband, who was employed as a class 4 employee in Tirunelveli district court, had recently been killed in a bus accident, and she had two small children with no means of financial support. She was an M.Ed. and so I called the Registrar of the Madurai bench and told him to give her a class 3 ( clerical ) job in the High Court. Her name is Kalavathi, and whenever I go to Madurai she meets me.

 I have already said a lot about certain matters relating to the Madras High Court in my previous posts ( one of which created a lot of controversy ) and so I need not repeat it. I may only make a passing reference to the Madras High Court Museum and the Tamilnadu Mediation and Conciliation Centre which I got set up, as well, as the Madras High Court Guest House, which I initiated, and which was completed after I had left.

 Even after coming to Delhi my association with Tamilnadu, and particularly Tamilian Judges and lawyers, has remained strong. Many of my recommendees are now very senior Judges of the Madras High Court, and I  am told they are keeping the flag of the High Court flying high. Even now I am always concerned about the welfare of the judiciary in Tamilnadu.

 In the Supreme Court my knowledge of some Tamil was helpful, and I often used it when a Tamilian lawyer was arguing before my bench.. Once, Mr. K. Parasaran, a very senior lawyer, and former Attorney General of India, was arguing before my bench. There was nothing in his case, so I told him in Tamil " Okaarung " ( which means, please sit down ). Had I said that in English he may have felt offended, but since I said it in his own mother tongue he smiled and sat down.

 In the Supreme Court I found one Tamil word very useful, and which I sometimes used after a Tamilian lawyer had finished his argument, " Tallupadi ", which means " Dismissed!".

Creche in Madras High Court

When I was the Chief Justice of Madras High Court ( 2004-2005 ) I thought of setting up a creche in the High Court.

A creche is an institution invented in the West. It caters to pre-nursery children, usually below the age of 3 or 4 years. There are many working women, whose husbands are also working. Their problem is what to do with their small children when they are at work. Obviously the child cannot be left alone in the house, with no one no to look after him/her. As long as there were joint families the grandparents often looked after the small children, but joint families are breaking up in India today.

 In the Madras High Court there were many young married ladies who  were lawyers or Registry staff having small children.

In a creche the small child can be left by the mother/father while going to work, and then picked up on the way home in the evening. During this time the child is looked after by adults, many of whom are professionally trained. In the creche the child is fed ( with milk, biscuits, etc) and can play with toys. He can also learn alphabets etc. often through toys.

The creche was set up in the High Court in early 2005, and I believe it is still running. There was no professionally trained person whom I knew then, and so i appointed a young highly educated lady as a class 3 employee to run it, and provided some class 4 staff to help her, and gave her other help. She did a good job. When I visited it ( which was often) I saw that she had organized some toys for the children to play with, put up beautiful paintings on walls, and made good arrangements for milk etc to feed the children there. The children seemed to be happy.

I think this concept should be followed in all establishments having many young married women

How a corrupt Judge continued in the Madras High Court

There was an Additional Judge of the Madras High Court against whom there were several allegations of corruption. He had been directly appointed as a District Judge in Tamilnadu, and during his career as District Judge there were as many as 8 adverse entries against him recorded by various portfolio Judges of the Madras High Court. But one Acting Chief Justice of Madras High Court by a single stroke of his pen deleted all those 8 adverse entries, and consequently he became an Additional Judge of the High Court, and he was on that post when I came as Chief Justice of Madras High Court in November 2004.

That Judge had the solid support of a very important political leader of Tamilnadu. I was told that this was because while a District Judge he granted bail to that political leader.

Since I was getting many reports about his corruption, I requested the Chief Justice of India, Justice Lahoti, to get a secret IB enquiry made about him. A few weeks thereafter, while I was in Chennai, I received a call from the Secretary of the CJI saying that the CJI wanted to talk to me. Justice Lahoti then came on the line and said that what I had complained about had been found true. Evidently the IB had found enough material about the Judge's corruption.

Since the 2 year term as Additional Judge of that person was coming to an end I assumed he would be discontinued as a Judge of the High Court in view of the IB report. However what actually happened was that he got another 1 year appointment as an Additional Judge, though 6 other Additional Judges who had been appointed with him were confirmed and made permanent Judges of the High Court.

I later learnt how this happened. The Supreme Court Collegium consists of 5 seniormost Judges for recommending names for appointment as a Supreme Court Judge, and 3 seniormost Judges for dealing with High Courts.

The 3 senior most Judges in the Supreme Court at that time were the Chief Justice of India, Justice Lahoti, Justice Sabarwal, and Justice Ruma Pal. This Supreme Court Collegium recommended that in view of the adverse IB report the Judge should be discontinued as a High Court Judge after his 2 year term was over, and this recommendation was sent to the Central Government.

The Central Government at that time was the UPA Government. The Congress was no doubt the largest party in this alliance, but it did not have a majority in the Lok Sabha, and was dependent on support by it allies. One of such ally was the party in Tamilnadu which was backing this corrupt Judge. On coming to know of the recommendation of the 3 Judge Supreme Court Collegium they strongly objected to it.
The information I got was that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was at that time leaving for New York to attend the U.N. General Assembly Session. At the Delhi airport he was told by the Ministers of that party of Tamilnadu ( who were Congress allies ) that by the time he returns from New York his government would have fallen as that Tamilnadu party would withdraw support to the UPA ( for not continuing that Additional judge ).

On hearing this Manmohan Singh panicked, but he was told by a senior Congress minister not to worry, and he would manage everything. That Minister then went to Justice Lahoti and told him there would be a crisis if that Additional Judge of Tamilnadu was discontinued. On hearing this Justice Lahoti sent a letter to the Government of India to give another term of 1 year as additional Judge to that corrupt Judge, ( I wonder whether he consulted his two Supreme Court Collegium members ),and it was in these circumstances this corrupt Judge was given another 1 year term as Additional Judge ( while his 6 batch mates as Additional Judges were confirmed as permanent Judges ). 

The Additional Judge was later given another term as Additional Judge by the new CJI Justice Sabarwal, and then confirmed as a permanent judge by the next CJI Justice K.G. Balkrishnan, but transferred to another High Court.

I have related all this to show how the system actually works, whatever it is in theory. In fact in view of the adverse IB report the Judge should not even have been continued as an Additional Judge

My Experiences as Chief Justice of Madras High Court

I was Chief Justice of the Madras High Court in 2004-2005. Some Tamilians have requested me to write something about my experience there on facebook.

When I received the order of the President of India appointing me Chief Justice of Madras High Court in November 2004 I was at Allahabad as Acting Chief Justice of that Court.

I telephoned the Madras High Court and spoke to the Acting Chief Justice, Justice N.Dinkar. Since I was reaching Chennai on Friday at about 1 or 1.30 p.m. I asked him to request all brother and sister Judges of the Court not to come to the airport to receive me, as it was a working day, and it would not be proper to abandon their Courts at working hours. I remembered reading the autobiography of Chief Justice Chagla of Bombay High Court, who wrote that when the Chief Justice of U.S. Supreme Court, Earl Warren, came to Bombay during Court hours of the Bombay High Court, Chief Justice Chagla sent the Registrar of the High Court to the airport to receive him. After Court hours Chief Justice Chagla went to see Chief Justice Warren, and apologized for not personally coming to the airport to receive him as it was court hours. Chief Justice Warren then told Chief Justice Chagla that he acted rightly, and in America the Judges do the same.

I was told that there was a practice in the Madras High Court for all the Judges coming to the airport to receive the new Chief Justice even during Court hours, but I thought that this would not be appreciated by the public, as they would think the Judges are doing sycophancy of the Chief Justice. I told Justice Dinkar that the Judges were welcome to meet me after Court hours at my residence. Accordingly, only lawyers and the Registry officials received me at the airport.

The Judges came to meet me at my residence after Court hours, and we had long talks. I told them they would never need an appointment to meet me, and, unless I was otherwise engaged, could meet me at my residence or chamber whenever they wanted to, and I said the same to the officials of the various lawyers associations.

I was given a warm welcome by the bench and bar in a function and dinner.

At that time the High Court had a sanctioned strength of 49 Judges ( it is now 60), but there were only 26 incumbents, and some more retirements were to take place soon.

A bench of the High Court had recently been created in Madurai, and the rules required that at least 5 Judges should sit there.

Now Madurai was a small town as compared to Chennai. All Judges wish to stay in big cities as there are better educational and job opportunities for children in big towns. So no Judge wanted to sit for long in Madurai. I remember receiving a telephone call from a Judge sitting in the Madurai bench who started crying over the telephone, and said that the previous Chief Justice had posted him in Madurai without his consent, and he had been there for 3 months and had developed blood pressure. I told him that if he could wait for a few days i was going to create a system, after consulting all Judges, about sitting of Judges in the Madurai bench ( till then there appeared to be none ).

I constituted a committee of the 3 senior most judges to consider the matter and give me their report at the earliest. This report was then placed before the Full Court of the High Court, and broadly confirmed. Under this system, 5 Judges would go to Madurai for 2 months, and on their return, the next batch of 5 Judges would go. But I never posted any Judge without taking his consent. After all, a Judge may have personal problems which made it difficult to leave Chennai at a particular time. I also told the Judges that if any of the 5 Judges sent to Madurai had an emergency which required him/her back in Chennai before his 2 month posting was over he could inform me and I would personally go and replace him for the balance period.

Before going to Chennai I had spoken on telephone to Justice Venkatachaliah to seek his blessings, as I have always regarded him as a father figure. He told me that in Madras I must give respect to each and every one of the brother and sister Judges.

Unfortunately, many Chief Justices of High Courts treat brother and sister Judges as subordinates. I am told about one Chief Justice that he would sometimes telephone a brother Judge at 10 p.m and tell him, without taking his consent, that he had to sit next day in some distant bench, for which a flight had to be taken the same night or early next morning. To my mind this was not proper. The Chief Justice is only first among equals, and not a headmaster.

Following the advice of Justice Venkatachaliah, I always gave respect to brother and sister Judges. I told them that we are one family, their problem is my problem, and vice versa. I would never compel a Judge to sit in Madurai, or do something, without taking his/her consent.

Justice Venkatachaliah also gave me another invaluable advice. He told me that many Chief Justices think that their main job is administrative, and they neglect judicial work. This was a fallacy. He said that the main job of the Chief Justice was to give leadership to the Court on the judicial side, by giving outstanding judgments. Following this advice i delegated almost all administrative work to committees of brother and sister Judges. After all, they were local people who knew about Madras High Court, whereas I was a stranger. Also, this relieved me of administrative work so that I had more time to write judgments.

One of the first things which was done by me was to constitute a 3 judge committee to allot lawyers chambers in the new building which had been built for this purpose, but for some reason was lying unoccupied for 3 years. The committee of Judges did an outstanding job, and within two months chambers were allotted to lawyers in accordance with a rational system.

As I mentioned before, almost half the posts of Judges in Madras High Court were lying vacant when I came to Chennai, and they had to be filled in. I was determined to have good judges in the High Court. After all, an institution is really the human personnel who are manning that institution. A High Court is not the beautiful building of the Court, or the green lawns or colourful curtains. A High Court is the Judges who are manning it, they should be first class people.

Although under the decision of the Supreme Court in the Judges Case only the Chief Justice and 2 seniormost judges of the High Court were to recommend names for appointment, I requested the first 12 judges in seniority to give me a list of lawyers they thought deserved to be elevated, and I also consulted about 5 or 6 very senior lawyers. Some names were common in many lists, but enquiries were made even about them. In this way after about 2-3 months daily excercise a consensus of 20 names emerged, and I recommended these. I told the Chief Justice of India, Justice Lahoti, about the methodology I had followed, and said that none of these persons recommended had any connection in any manner with me. So it was now entirely upto him to accept them or reject them.

I must say to the credit of the then Chief Minister, Ms. Jayalalitha ( who is also the present Chief Minister )that she never interfered in this process, and never pressurized me to recommend any name for Judgeship, nor did she ever interfere with judicial functions in any manner.Throughout my stay as Chief Justice there was never any problem, as she respected the independence of the judiciary.
I regret that I cannot say the same about another political party in Tamilnadu, who, through their representatives put tremendous pressure on me to recommend certain names for Judgeship whom I found to be totally undeserving. Some of these persons were never even seen in courts, though technically they were enrolled as lawyers. These were obviously party men of that political party which wanted to pack the Madras High Court with its men., but I refused to succumb to this pressure.

I had taken an oath to myself that I would do my duty to Madras High Court, although my parent High Court was Allahabad High Court. The maximum punishment which could be given to me was to refuse to make me a Supreme Court Judge, but I was prepared for this punishment, and would do my duty to Madras High Court, come what may.

On receiving my 20 recommendations the Supreme Court Collegium approved 17 of them, which was a record. But the same political party which sought to pressurize me would not let these appointments go though, and ultimately it was on a P.I.L. by the Madras High Court Advocates Association and an order of the Supreme Court that those appontments of 17 Judges was made, which was a record for Madras High Court. These Judges had been carefully scrutinized by me and my Collegium members before recommending them, and I am happy to note that most of them have justified my expectations.

I will write more about my experiences in Tamilnadu in subsequent posts, but I would like to add here that the people of Tamilnadu throughout my stay there gave me great love and affection, for which i will be ever grateful.