Your Sunday splash (‘‘Hello, Your Lordship’’) breaks news and raises alarms. And the diverse comments it has evoked in the front page of the September 4 issue (‘‘MTNL’s gift to SC Judges.’’) prompts me to recall a story — a true story — told by my leader Sir Jamsetji Kanga (the man whom Chief Justice Chagla once described as the ‘‘uncut diamond of the Bombay Bar’’): in the late 1940s Kanga, all six-foot-four-of-him, stood arguing a potato merchant’s appeal before a Bench consisting of Chief Justice John Beaumont and Justice H C Coyajee — each of them made in a different mould; Beaumont, a robust judge endowed with a wealth of commonsense; Coyajee, by contrast, a studious and God-fearing soul (a ‘‘timorous soul’’ — as Lord Denning would have described him). Well, when the appeal got going and the judges were closely questioning Kanga on its merits the following conversation took place: (later related by Coyajee to Kanga): Coyajee: (leaning over in a whisper): ‘‘Chief, do you see that man bobbing up and down behind Kanga?’’ Beaumont: ‘‘Yes—he is Kanga’s client’’. Coyajee: ‘‘He had the audacity to come to my house last evening to deliver a bag of potatoes.’’ Beaumont: (smiling) ‘‘And what did you do Brother?’’ Coyajee: ‘‘Of course I asked him to instantly leave with his gift.’’ Beaumont: ‘‘What a pity. Coyajee — I assure you they were excellent potatoes!’’ Seeing the look of horror on Coyajee’s face Beaumont then added: ‘‘Do you really think Coyajee that a bag of potatoes is going to make any difference as to how we decide this case?’’ Practising continuously as I have in the Supreme Court since 1972, I have not the slightest doubt that the decision of the Judges of any Bench of the Supreme Court in the MTNL case when it does reach hearing will not be any the different because of free cellphones! But at a time when the public image of the Court is so high, even the slightest whisper of seeming ‘‘impropriety’’ must be avoided. That old Latin maxim is the safest, ‘‘Ne vile fano—Let nothing defile the temple.’’ So as a ‘‘timorous soul,’’ I would say to our Judges — (respectfully but a trifle impertinently): ‘‘The great office you hold must not be denigrated — whether by the right thinking or the wrong thinking — chuck it!’’
