BRUSHES WITH THE JUDICIARY

Dr. Pankaj Khullar IFS (Retd.)

 

            A few weeks ago, I came face to face with a young judicial officer, and a sorry experience it was. My daughter had to submit an Indemnity Bond for obtaining her daughter’s corrected Marks Sheet from the CBSE. The CBSE format specifically stated the document be got countersigned by a Judicial Magistrate Ist Class. She got the necessary affidavit made and then went around the Solan courts looking for a JMIC. She soon found that though there were several Additional Judicial Magistrates, there was no JMIC. Even the post of Chief Judicial Magistrate was lying vacant. She discovered that a JMIC was posted at Kandaghat, a Sub Divisional town some 15 km from Solan. She looked up the internet and found that the incumbent there was a young lady who had been directly recruited to the HP Judicial Service. I called up her office and obtained an appointment from her PA.

            My daughter and I drove up to Kandaghat in the afternoon, so that we would catch up with the lady after Court hours were over. On reaching her office, I handed over my visiting card to the PA, requesting him to send it in to the Magistrate. He hemmed and hawed for about fifteen minutes, before handing the card to the Reader. The Reader, a lady, also hesitated to present my card to her boss. On my insistence, she finally gave my card to her boss. My daughter and I finally got to meet the magistrate after half an hour. When my daughter explained why we had come, the lady glared at her and asked her point blank what made her think that she, a Magistrate First Class, would countersign a document. When we showed her the requirement of the CBSE, she got very upset and asked us to leave her chamber. My telling her that I was a senior retired officer had no effect on her. While she had a female guest sitting on a sofa by her side, the young lady did not even display the basic courtesy of offering this septuagenarian a seat or even a glass of water. Finally, after pleading with her for five or six minutes, with my daughter almost in tears, we left her room.

             During my career of almost forty years in Himachal Pradesh, I had come across the high handedness, to the point of rudeness, of many officers of the judiciary. I had thought that it was the post that was responsible for their inflated egos, but now I realised that it was part of their training. If a young officer, with just a few years of service under her belt, behaved in this manner towards a member of the public, how would she behave when she was elevated to more senior positions, or even to the High Court or to the Supreme Court!

I have seen power going to the heads of officers in senior positions, but nothing can beat the inflated egos of judges, at whatever level they may be. My first encounter was with a Sub-Divisional Magistrate, basically a revenue officer who would hold court to decide land revenue cases. Mr. Singh was a drinking buddy and a bridge partner in Rajgarh in 1975. I considered him a close friend, but he proved how wrong I was when I had occasion to attend his court to defend a forest encroachment case. As I rose, along with others, as he took his seat in court, I half expected him to acknowledge my presence with a nod, if not a smile, but he did not even meet my eye. His bearing was distant and aloof, as if he had no idea who I was. The fact that I was a brother officer, and even senior to him in rank, was totally forgotten. When I confronted him the next day in the club, and asked about his superior behaviour, he said that, as a judge, while holding court, he had to appear removed from the public. Sitting on an elevated platform helped to further enhance that image. My regard for him as a brother officer went down several notches. A person who had one persona in private, and another in public, had no position in my book! A smile and a nod could not possibly convey partiality or favour even in court. It just showed that one was human.

When I was the Head of the Forest Department in 2006, I had occasion to cross swords with a couple of Chief Justices of the High Court. One was when I had just taken over and, on the way to the office one day, I happened to notice trees being felled and a road being constructed through a dense forest. On reaching my office, I made inquiries and was told that that the road was being constructed by the PWD to connect the highway with a Court Complex that was being developed on the ridge some one kilometer away. Further inquiry revealed that the entire area was part of a Reserve Forest, the most sacrosanct class of forest there is. Furthermore, no clearance had been obtained from The Forest Department or the Govt. of India, which was an absolute necessity under the law. I ordered the work stopped, and sent a notice to the PWD. No sooner had I done so, that I was summoned to the chambers of the then Chief Justice, Mr. G. Without being offered a seat, I was asked why I had stopped the work. When I told the CJ that what was happening was against the law, and the proper clearances from the Govt. of India had not been obtained, the worthy flew into a temper and said he would order my removal from my post if I did not let the work proceed. When I stood my ground, he launched into a tirade, using the most explicit swearwords I have ever heard. I stood through it all and, as soon as I got the chance, told him that unless the Superintending Engineer prepared a case of diversion of forest land for construction of the Court Complex and the road leading to it, and obtained the necessary clearances from the Central Government, I could not let the work proceed. “Mr. PCCF,” he said, “Don’t you trust this Court to protect you if the Central Government takes action against you?” “Sorry, Sir,” I said, “You cannot protect me against the Supreme Court which is itself overseeing such infractions of the Forest Conservation Act.” Another outpouring of expletives erupted as I let myself out of the door. I am happy to say a case was prepared, sent to the GoI for clearance, necessary permissions obtained, and the work proceeded as per His Honour’s wishes. Had I fallen in line and ignored what was going on, I would surely have been deprived of my pension, if not been ignominiously dismissed from service just before my retirement.

Another funny incident comes to mind which I simply must share. July and August of 2008 had been unusually wet. Heavy rains had resulted in several trees in the town being uprooted and another few hundred hanging precariously over roads and residential buildings, posing an imminent danger to life and property. Five people had lost their lives, and several were in hospital with injuries caused by falling trees and collapsing buildings. The newspapers were blaming the government, specifically the Forest Department, for not doing anything. As Head of the Forest Department, I felt it was my duty to get the fallen and dangerously leaning trees removed before any more property was damaged or lives lost. The only problem was that the High Court had, some years earlier, ordered a complete ban on the felling or removal of any trees, green or dry, without its express permission. I had no option except to try and get the permission of the Court as quick as I could. It was a Friday when I called up the Registrar of the High Court and asked him how I could get in touch with the Chief Justice to seek special permission to deal with the fallen and falling trees asap.

Within hours I got a call from the Chief Minister’s office asking me to attend the Cabinet Meeting the next morning. As I entered the Cabinet room, the CM asked, “What have you done now, Mr. Khullar? The Chief Justice wants to haul you up for contempt of court.” “Nothing, Sir,” I replied. “I merely called up the Registrar, asking him how I could get the Court’s permission for dealing with the fallen trees. I was only acting in the interest of the people.” The CM directed the Advocate General to get in touch with the Registrar and Chief Justice, and seek the necessary permissions. Despite the next day being a Sunday, a special sitting of the Court was convened, with three judges on the bench. The Chief Justice, Mr. K, looked me up and down and said, “Everybody wants to meet the CJ these days. Nobody has any respect for the judiciary!” “What is the emergency? A few days of rain, and everybody panics,” he continued, with a smirk. Just then it started raining, with the water coming down in sheets. Mr. K looked towards the window, and his smile disappeared. Hastily he asked, “Mr. Advocate General, what orders do you need?”

I think Judges need to be more down to earth and less god-like. They need to come down from their pedestals and be more human. Only then will the common man trust the judges and have faith in the judiciary. Right now he does not!