Diamond Jubilee

After some years I visited Srinagar last week for the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court.

After some years I visited Srinagar last week for the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court. Going down memory lane I recalled my appearances in the High Court, particularly the case where I was engaged by the state to defend its anti-defection law, the first of its kind in India. The Chief Justice and Justice Mir found no constitutional infirmity in the law. Justice A S Anand and Justice Kotwal dissented. The legislation was upheld thanks to a peculiar rule of the High Court which provides that in case of an evenly split judgment, the opinion of the Chief Justice prevails.

The High Court, under the dynamic leadership of its present Chief Justice B A Khan, has made remarkable strides in reducing arrears by 20 per cent in the last year. Its goal is disposal of cases pending for more than five years in the High Court and 10 years in the district courts by the end of the year, and to achieve zero pendency by 2008.

Visit to the High Court museum was an exhilarating experience. There were photographs of the sitting of our Supreme Court in Srinagar in 1954. There were also photographs of legal luminaries like Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru, Zaffarula Khan and Mohammed Ali Jinnah, who had appeared in the High Court before Independence. The Royal Code of Conduct for the first Qazi of Kashmir who was appointed in 1586 AD gave directions to the Qazi, one of which was not to attend entertainments given by anybody and everybody. At present this precept is generally honoured more in breach than observance.

Traditional Kashmiri hospitality was overpowering. Nonetheless I missed the erstwhile joyous atmosphere. Srinagar resembled a fortress because of tight security measures. Lawyers and judges have received death threats and have been attacked in some cases. The situation however is not so grim as in New York where judges are allowed to wear a pistol beneath their robes while on the bench. The New York Committee on Judicial Ethics ruled that it was ethically permissible to do so but gave a salutary warning that judges must 8216;8216;be patient, dignified and courteous8217;8217;. An admonition which all judges with pistols or otherwise must bear in mind.

Mind the Mike: If mikes are not switched off on the dais, embarrassing situations may ensue. Renowned constitutional lawyer late Homi Seervai was with me on the dais during a session on federalism which I was chairing. When the session was thrown open for floor discussion Justice M H Baig raised his hand. Seervai in his loud voice told me, 8216;8216;He is very confused and rambles. Don8217;t give him more than five minutes.8217;8217; The audience had a good laugh. I realised that the mike was open and before Seervai could launch further I promptly switched it off. Since then I have learnt my lesson.

Thanks to an open mike the world heard President George Bush8217;s earthy remark that what is needed in the Middle East crisis is to 8216;8216;get Syria to get Hizbollah to stop doing this shit and it8217;s over8217;8217;. Several gaffes are attributed to the President. A recent one is that Bush and Blair both went to Camp David. Bush was asked by a journalist, 8216;8216;What do you guys have in common?8217;8217; After a few moments he said: 8216;8216;Well, we both use Colgate.8217;8217; Blair was visibly embarrassed. Prince Phillip is not far behind. One of his royal gaffes was on a visit to the Science Museum with the Queen to open a new wing. Shown some robots that kept bumping into each other, he asked a professor: 8216;8216;They8217;re not mating, are they?8217;8217; At the North London Murugan Temple during the Queen8217;s Golden Jubilee celebrations, he asked a Sri Lankan priest: 8216;8216;Are you the Tamil Tigers?8217;8217; The notorious one is when on his visit to Amritsar he was shown a plaque which mentioned that 2,000 Indians were martyred in the Independence struggle, Philip said: 8216;8216;That8217;s not right8230;the number is less.8217;8217; It is a neck-and-neck race between the President and the Prince.