Returning home By Justice Katju

I am leaving for Chennai today, 28th August, where I will be for a couple of days.

It will be like returning home.

I was Chief Justice of the Madras High Court in 2004-2005. Although from UP, Tamilians showered me with such love and affection that I can never forget, and gave me great respect. So since then I have regarded Tamilnadu my second home, and I am always happy to return there.

I made many friends during my time as Chief Justice, though unfortunately many of them, like Mr R Krishnamurthy and Mr Habibullah Basha ( both former Advocate Generals of Tamilnadu ), are now no more. I remember with great happiness the time I spent in the High Court, and the invariable respect, love and kindness I received from all. I hope and trust that the Court will continue to maintain those high traditions which have so distinguished it in the past.

I have many memories of the days I spent in the Court, but I will mention only one.

A High Court is not its beautiful buildings, lawns, curtains, etc. It is the human personnel who are manning it i.e. the Judges there. They must be first class people. I would often say that if a man is sitting under a tree dispensing high quality justice, that tree is a High Court.

So I determined that it was my foremost duty as the Chief Justice to ensure that the Madras High Court gets judges of the highest integrity and legal knowledge. I remembered that a Lord Chancellor of England ( who was like the Chief Justice of India ) was once asked what were the criteria on the basis of which he selects judges. He replied ” He should be a gentleman, and it would do no harm if he knew a bit of law ”. The second part of this statement was of course said in jest, but what he meant was that integrity, courtesy, and fairness to all were essential attributes of a judge, as much important, if not more, than legal erudition.

When I became the Chief Justice of Madras High Court its sanctioned strength was 49 judges ( today I believe it is 70 ), but the incumbents were only 25, and a few retirements were to take place shortly. Shortage of judges was a crisis situation which had to be remedied soon.

In the Judges case the Supreme Court had laid down that the recommendations for appointing High Court Judges was to be done by a Collegium consisting of the Chief Justice of the High Court and the 2 seniormost judges.

Fortunately for me, my 2 seniormost colleagues, Justice N. Dhinkar and Justice NV Balasubraniam, were men of the highest integrity and legal acumen. However, I decided to expand the consultation process by requesting about a dozen other Madras High Court judges in order of seniority and half a dozen senior lawyers known for their high reputation to submit names of lawyers of the High Court whom they thought deserving of elevation to the High Court bench.

In this way I got about 18 lists, and for about 6 weeks thereafter I sat with my Collegium colleagues almost every second or third day and went through the lists submitted to me. Some names were common in many lists, but I made enquiries about the reputation of these lawyers too.

Having completed this exhaustive procedure we recommended 20 names for appointment as judges. I then came to Delhi and met the then Chief Justice of India, Justice Lahoti, and explained to him the procedure my Collegium had adopted in making the recommendations. I told him ” Sir, none of these people we have recommended was even known to me before I took over as Chief Justice of Madras High Court. I have no personal interest in any of them, and now the ball is in your Court. You may approve or reject any name, and I will have no objection ”.

18 out of the 20 persons whom we recommended were approved by the Supreme Court Collegium, and were appointed as High Court Judges, and they later proved to be excellent Judges.

Even today I regard this to be my best contribution to the Madras High Court.