The judge with a golden heart and a brilliant head

“We will only deserve such place in history as the collective efforts of lawyers and judges bring to the cause of justice and service to public….Like a temple cannot remain closed, a temple of justice can also not remain closed for the teeming millions of this country….May, I humbly say that everyone must abjure lawlessness in court complexes, cooperate with each other and continue to provide justice to the common man uninterrupted”.

That was Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, now on his way to the Supreme Court, on elevation, who spoke on 30 th July, 2014 at the time of his assumption of office in Madras high court. To begin with, he spoke eloquently of the 150 year old history and hoary traditions of this court. He patted profusely on the singular contributions of this Bar and Bench. Yet, he did not forget to include in his speech the above passage of pregnant poignancy.

The Chief Justice was well aware of what he was ‘getting into’. He knew he was walking into a rich tradition. He was coming to sit and preside over a Bench that had adorned many a doyen and had thrown up stalwarts galore, some of whom, he reminded us, were still in practice. Yet, what was striking was only what he saw and experienced from the ‘practising advocates’. Times without number, in his short span he was confronted with a confrontational Bar angling for a tussle. He was stupefied that such a fine heritage was being dissipated at the altar of expediency of a ‘few’- which number was sufficient to shut close the judicial market for consumption by the ordinary litigant. He stood taller than his height of gargantuan proportions in ‘dealing’ with the issues front on. He promised at the time of his welcome speech that “My doors are always open to my brother and sister judges and the Bar. I am confident that just like my stint of 14 months in the Punjab and Haryana high court, the lawyers and my brother and sister judges will walk with me hand-in- hand for the larger cause to provide justice to the common man.”

His doors were not only kept open, at times, they were rudely opened wider, by us, to let in groups of advocates in eternal agitation mode. He was sad that ‘valuable judicial time’ was eaten up in dousing the continuing embers for he was concerned that his open chamber doors did not help so much as keeping the ‘courts’ doors open’, all the time, in the cause of administration of justice.

He tried his darnedest to infuse an amiable air to make it a Bar & Bench tandem walk rather than a Bar vs Bench antagonistic sufferance. But a series of incidents which are not worth recounting when the Chief Justice is taking leave of us were the last straw on the camel’s back to culminate in a revamped security system. It brought in, to quote from the Annual Report, 2015 of the high court, a ‘whiff of fresh air’.

It may be a permanent scar that WE are guilty of, but grateful to him for ‘securing’ the premises to its pristine ‘peace and tranquility’.  He will also be remembered for all those brilliant pronouncements, such as this: “If you do not like a book, throw it away. There is no compulsion to read a book”. That was in Madhorubhagan author Perumal Murugan’s episode. And in the closing remarks in that judgment: “Let the writer be resurrected to do what he is best at. Write”. Words reverberating with his judicial wisdom. Who can forget his equally landmark verdict in M.F. Hussain painter’s case in 2008 as judge of the Delhi high court?

What was striking to any practitioner in his Court was the short and crisp Cause List. It made robust common sense and judicial too. Each lawyer and litigant was sure, at the start of the day, that he would be ‘heard’ that very day of listing and possibly get closure or surely get the list moved to the next effective stage, close to closure. And he made sure that orders were listed chronologically for compliance to ensure that paper decrees got translated into reality. Listening is tough but this Chief was comfortable at it. Not endlessly though, for he would quietly with firmness- never loudly-intervene to clinch the issue.

He was transparent in his expressions and the lawyer/litigant could catch the wind with ease. More often than not, a ala M.C. Chagla he delivered judgments ex tempore and when reserved, kept the timeline he introduced himself, as part of judicial discipline. Sir, you came with a dream. We welcomed you with open arms typical of Tamil tradition. Yet WE sullied OUR reputation .Not yours. And you did not sully ours. Thank you. . You fought hard to keep it alive. You can feel proud at your legacy, yet it rankles the heart and mind of the conscientious that your legacy may be noted more for the ‘peace and tranquility’ brought into the campus- no doubt a ‘whiff of fresh air’ most welcome- than for the landmark verdicts you presided over. Administration of Justice requires “Administration”, in the first place, you have taught us all. We are sorry that WE may have ‘spoilt’ the “air’ you came to breathe, imbued with richness and tradition. But standing tall, to more than your height, you could breathe easy so that WE could all breathe easy too.

(N. Vijayaraghavan is a leading lawyer practising in the Madras high court for over two decades.)