Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Some years ago, in an address to members of the International Bar Association, the chief justice of the New York Court of Appeals said that when he was first appointed, he took his wife to see his Court:
8220;This,8221; he said with reverence 8220;is Justice Benjamin Cardozo8217;s Court where I now sit.8221;
His wife replied not very reverently: 8220;Yes, and after fifty years and five more chief justices, it will still be Justice Cardozo8217;s Court.8221;
Having joined the Bombay Bar in 1950 and practiced continuously in the high court for the first 22 years before coming over to Delhi, I still regard the Chief Justice8217;s Court in Bombay as the place where Chagla sat, which is no reflection on any of his distinguished successors. It is only my tribute to a great judge who has been a perennial source of inspiration to all chief justices after Chagla. He was not only a great judge, but a consummate leader 8212; a person to whom his own colleagues and all lawyers who appeared before him instinctively looked up to. Born in 1900, his birth centenary is being celebrated in Mumbai on December 1.
As a student of the Government Law College in Bombay, I saw him preside in the constitutional challenge to the Bombay Prohibition Act 8212; a case which excited great attention. The courtroom was packed to over-flowing on almost every single day of the hearing which lasted two weeks. I remember seeing there for the first time C.K. Daphtary, the state8217;s advocate-general, who was ably defending the case on behalf of the government. At times, but only at times, Daphtary could not restrain his penchant for playing to the gallery 8212; as when Chagla asked him in the course of arguments about the nature of the intoxicants which were declared prohibited under the Act. Daphtary described them and, with a mischievous twinkle in his eye, added: 8220;And then, My Lords, there are substances other than liquid refreshments which also intoxicate 8212; and power is one of them8221;.
This quip was widely reported in the Press and, from the next day, Chief Minister Morarji Desai sent a relay of stenographers to the Court to record verbatim future 8220;transgressions8221; of his advocate-general 8212; a situation which was a source of great amusement to Daphtary!
Chagla was not only erudite but uniformly courteous. He never lost his temper, never indulged in rhetoric or cheap jokes at the expense either of lawyers appearing before him or the clients whose cases were being espoused. And he was never at a loss for words 8212; he had the consummate skill of assimilating the facts, condensing legal arguments into a few short paragraphs and of applying the law to the facts in well-chosen prose. In this he emulated the judge who brought him on the Bench at such an early age 8212; Chief Justice Sir John Beaumont 8212; whom he greatly admired and respected. Chagla was a person whose heart was easily moved by a client8217;s distress: A man of great learning but, more importantly, a man of great compassion.
Chagla never permitted his personal opinion about a lawyer to influence in any way the decision in the case. I remember that doughty veteran lawyer K.L. Gauba filing a suit in the City Civil Court claiming that the chief justice of Bombay had no right to direct No Parking8217; signs to be placed outside the judges8217; garages in the High Court premises because its precincts were within the jurisdiction of the municipality, not of the High Court. The case necessitated the going through of records of a hundred years to determine how the matter lay. Chief Justice Chagla himself gave evidence as a witness in the Court of the Judge of the City Civil Court in which the case was being tried.
Gauba put several questions to Chagla in cross examination, questions which were personal and hurtful but totally irrelevant 8212; causing Chagla much mental anguish. A few months later I witnessed the same Gauba arguing on behalf of his client an appeal in the Chief Justice8217;s Court. There was not a trace of resentment or bitterness in Chagla8217;s countenance. He heard and decided the case as he would have heard and decided any other case with any other counsel appearing 8212; a tribute to his extraordinary judicial demeanour. Incidentally, Gauba won that case!
My own first appearance before him was disastrous. When only a year at the Bar, Nani Palkhiwala had entrusted me with a brief 8212; an appeal under the Bombay Requisition Act 8212; so that I should look up the law. Palkhiwala had another engagement before the Income Tax Tribunal and was absent when the case reached hearing before Chief Justice Chagla and Justice Gajendragadkar 8212; the strongest Bench in the country at the time. I rose weakly mentioning that Mr Palkhiwala was appearing in the matter and would their lordships keep back the case. The chief justice politely declined saying that this was a great opportunity for me to begin, to acquaint them with the facts and to instruct them on the law!
I bravely took the plunge, stated the facts and legal provisions, made a few submissions and having not much more to say sat down. The solicitors and clients behind me were wringing their hands in despair! One of them had the good sense to fetch Palkhiwala post-haste but he arrived too late8211;judgment was already being dictated dismissing our client8217;s appeal. Palkhiwala interrupted the judgment to mention much more felicitously than I could the relevant interpretation of the law which our client was canvassing for. Chagla did not like interruptions when he was dictating judgment, but he permitted this one 8212; he listened to Palkhiwala, gave an answer to the interpretation suggested, and said, 8220;I don8217;t think, Mr Palkhiwala, you can add anything more to what Mr Nariman has so well presented.8221;
I knew how 8220;well8221; I had done! Not a smile escaped Chagla8217;s lips. He made it appear that he was dead-serious in the compliment he paid to a junior whose face he had never seen before. The graciousness of the man was unbounding. In my long career, I have never seen such a rare mingling of learning, wisdom and grace on the Bench 8212; at least not till Justice Venkatachaliah sat in the Supreme Court, first as judge, later as chief justice.
When as counsel for the Indian government, early in 1975, I cited a decision of Chagla8217;s, before the High Court of Calcutta, Chief Justice S.P. Mitra said to me: 8220;In this court we always treat judgments of Chief Justice Chagla with the greatest respect8221;. I responded by telling him that I had never seen, or appeared before, a finer judge than M.C. Chagla. Since then I am 25 years older in the profession, but my response is still the same.
Chagla had the consummate skill of assimilating facts, condensing legal arguments into a few paras and applying the law to the facts in well-chosen prose
