Congratulations. To be appointed as
judges of the High Court is a cosmic blessing. Even among the best of lawyers
only a few are chosen to the calling. Often it is more than a product of
knowledge and success. It is a jurisprudential mutation for the practising
lawyer. Some who never wanted to be there adorn the bench. Many who clamoured
for it ended addressing it!! It is a huge constitutional responsibility and not
just a milestone in a career or a moment of recognition. It is not just about
changing tracks or declaring verdicts.
You five some as a collective are arguably one of the best ‘teams’ selected in
a while and surely each of you have put in wonderful years at the Bar to be
sensitive to the demands of the calling. American historian and academician
Howard Zinn stated accurately what you know through decades of experience: In
the austere chambers of the Court, life and death matters are decided in an
atmosphere of genial academic debate. Having participated by choice in the
debate, you now are called upon to navigate the debate and would be called upon
to deal with the fate of citizens and their faith. The task when realised is
shred of glamour and filled with responsibility. To deal with not just the
lives but the fate of persons by calling is not going to be easy. It can in
time however become mechanical and let me caution you against it now.
I take the liberty through this column to state from the Bar a few concerns, so
that your tenure would not just be personally satisfying by socially relevant.
We have had in the past, judges of myriad hues. Some learned, some balanced.
Some who let the heart rule the head and some who looked at the calling as a
cerebral exercise. We have had learned men who with all their learning (or
exactly because of that!) brought a willingness to be persuaded to an opinion
different from what they held, some who heckled the bar with the poise of their
learning (?). In other jurisprudential spheres it is permissible to classify
judges by their school of thought and even analyse their stances by their
political vision. In India this could be seen as contempt of court.
Constitutional defalcations will be a huge challenge not so much in fact as in
perception. Please, please do not arrogate to yourself the belief that you know
best and that you are the paramount guardian of the system. In a system
governed by the right to expression and structured to debate, to shut off a
debate for want of time is patently unjust.
I have not had the privilege of being on the bench so I speak from theory. I
thus choose to quote the wise words of Lord Denning who said :
For a judge it is important to be intelligent. He doesn’t need to be an
intellectual. Often an intellectual judge tends to be more clever than fair. A
judge must be a person with good sense and good judgment. He must be able to
understand the arguments advanced in his court fully and in their correct
perspective. Again, a judge must have a wide knowledge of the world. He should
not live in ivory towers.
Our constitution enjoins on you a vital role in translating its purpose and
intent – both of which is what you say it is. Our constitution is also not just
a rule book. The paramount parchment with all its contemporary dents and repair
is designed for the well-being of the nation and by deduction its people. As
Bharata Bhagya Vidhatas you have a great if sensitive role to play. Unsolicited
though it may be it is time to recall how the Bar saw Justice Iyer when he laid
down office. A fine litmus test if you are willing to take the bait:
Yours has been a restless and rebellious quest for justice. You have dared
and defied and you have drawn your sword of thoughts and words when many would
have been content to be reticent and complacent. Your ideas have seldom failed
to stir and to provoke. Sometimes you may have gone too far and sometimes you
may not have gone far enough, but at all times, there was unfailing courtesy
and consideration going hand in hand with a spiritual translucence and
equipoise of goodwill, sincerity, compassion and understanding in your judicial
and extra-judicial pathways.
As you journey from the Bar to the Bench – a huge journey, form the well meaning at the Bar: Bon voyage.!!