If judges can’t be bold, they can’t expect other parts of admin to be so: Justice Kaul signs off

As per practice, a Supreme Court judge who is due for retirement shares the bench with the CJI on his or her last working day. Justice Kaul is set to retire on December 25 and Friday is his last working day as the court will be on Christmas and New Year holiday from December 18 and will reopen on January 2.

Justice Kaul, who had handled the issue of the lawyers strike disrupting court work in Odisha, said the court is “an institution and temple of justice. It must remain open. That’s something very close to my heart”. He said “fortunately the Supreme Court does not carry that problem”.

Speaking on what he called the adjournment culture, he said, “As a lawyer, I felt that wherever somewhat an adjournment culture is prevalent, it’s a problem. I always believe that the case must be taken up on the day it is listed.”

He recalled “when I became a judge, one of the judges told me: ‘Remember that in India, litigant comes to the court as a last resort, after he has been through the various processes and he finds that there are no solutions. If he owes 50, give him 55, not 45 because with great difficulty he comes to this court’. That’s something I have kept dear to my heart. I do not believe that we are the fund collectors for the government. Stakes are not important, what is important is what the principle of law it carries. And this court has administered justice as expected without fear or favour.”

Justice Kaul expressed concern that tolerance for opinions of others was going down internationally and emphasised the need for people to learn to live with each other.

“The whole society works on a system where people must have tolerance for each other’s opinion. I think that’s the greatest message I would like to give. We are at a time in the world where the tolerance levels have gone very low, internationally… It is time the human species learns to live with each other and live with other species of this world to be able to adjust to it, so that the world remains a large place, doesn’t become a small place,” he said.

“The Bar and Bench work together. Therefore, the Bar owes the duty to see that the independence of the judiciary, the independence in the various forms in the country are protected and they stand up for it. Ultimately, there’s no method by which the judiciary can stand up for itself and I think it’s the duty of the Bar to support, sometimes correct the judiciary,” he said.

He said he is going out a satisfied man. “I go out with a full sense of satisfaction. I have tried to do my best of whatever I could. Sometimes it may be the best, sometimes it may not be.”

Attorney General R Venkataramani said “Justice Kaul’s expression” in the Article 370 judgement “that there should be a truth and reconciliation commission, I think it marks a watershed in the way the court can articulate a profound thought about the healing touch which is required”.