Senior Advocate Ram Jethmalani is in the news again. This time Jethmalani is in the midst of controversy for calling Judges Sycophants at a lawyer’s conference and in another instance for questioning the impartiality of a Supreme Court judge and calling him ‘biased’.
Senior Advocate Ram Jethmalani is in the news again. This time Jethmalani is in the midst of controversy for calling Judges Sycophants at a lawyer’s conference and in another instance for questioning the impartiality of a Supreme Court judge and calling him ‘biased’.
Jethmalani is of the opinion that he is someone who thinks independently, who has not mortgaged his soul or intelligence to anybody.
Recently, while speaking at the state lawyer’s conference on the occasion of Law day organized by the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa, he made a remark saying judiciary is responsible for adjournments, reports TOI.
He criticized judges saying “Why do you (judge) adjourn when they (lawyers) ask for it? You also have become sycophants to maintain relations”.
Justice Majmudar with an anguish rebuking the statement made by Jethmalani declined to grant a four – week adjournment stating, “We will go strictly by the law. No more adjournments will be given”. The Court also rapped the bar council. "It is for the bar council to consider about the kind of people they invite to deliver lectures," said Justice Majmudar.
“Lawyers are making public statements which affect the image of the judiciary. Senior advocates are tarnishing the image of judges by saying such things in public. It affects the public profile of the whole institution” said the judge.
The Judge also added “There should be some restraint (on lawyers making statements). From new entrants in the profession to advocates who are in the verge of retirement, everyone is indulging in it.”
The judge said that adjournments are given on a case by case basis. "Government is not ready with affidavits when cases are called out. We do not want the state to suffer and sometimes grant adjournments," said Justice Majmudar. The judges took exception to the statement that senior counsels use their influence in seeking adjournments. "We go strictly by the law. We hope wiser counsel prevails," said the judge.
Yesterday, Ram Jethmalani lighted another spark and further triggered the judiciary in Sohrabuddin encounter case for making “baseless allegations” against Justice Tarun Chatterjee, an Apex court judge.
He alleged that Justice Tarun Chatterjee, who was on the bench that ordered CBI probe into the killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh alleged encounter was “biased”, since the Judge himself was an accused in the Ghaziabad provident fund scam, also investigated by the CBI.
The Centre through Additional Solicitor General Indira Jaising fired back stating, “I demand the court to initiate suo motu contempt not only on against Shah but also the advocates who have drafted and settled the said application and has affixed his signature with the noting ‘settled by Ram Jethmalani, Senior Advocate and drawn and filed by Anish Kumar Gupta,” while arguing before a bench consisting of Justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana P Desai.
Jaising further added "Both Shah and Jethmalani, who settled the application seeking recall of the January 12 order, alleged a conspiracy not only between the Centre and the CBI but a tripartite conspiracy between the Centre, the CBI and by innuendo the Supreme Court," reports TOI.
Jethmalani in turn termed her arguments “Hysterical” and said "I will not withdraw the allegations. If anyone has committed contempt, it was me. For, I argued the matter before the Court."
In blemish ASG Jaising rebutted saying, "Mr Jethmalani, for you, all arguments by women advocates are hysterical, not the men. I have mentioned your name for initiation of contempt proceedings; let us see the explanation once the notices for contempt are issued."
She maintained that the allegation of bias against the Judge had no evidence and was nothing but a “self-serving smokescreen” aimed to subvert the cause of justice.
From the recent heated atmosphere amidst the members of judiciary caused through his remarks, this legal personality is truly known for being surrounded by controversies.
Comments
Observer
December 1, 2011 - 11:17pmThere does not appear to be anything inappropriate in Jethmalani's remarks during the proceedings before the Hon'ble Court. However, his statement in the lawyer's conference could have been avoided. In fact, it is the CBI which was seeking to make out a case that the judiciary in Gujarat was acting on communal lines at the behest of the government of the day. It is the rule of law that requires the decision maker to be free from all influences. If there was any scope to apprehend that the investigation by the CBI into allegations against the Hon'ble Judge would have an effect on his decision it would have been just and proper that the Hon'ble Judge should have recused himself. The foregoing, of course, does not mean that the Judge was influenced in making the decision that he did. Lastly, there are many instances of exercise of extraneous influence on judicial decision making. That is the bitter reality. Judges are but human and one amongst us. However, that does not at all mean that the judiciary as an institution is biased or otherwise prejudiced. There is a sincere attempt on the part of the present Chief Justice Hon'ble Shri Kapadia to cleanse the system of the weeds and the results are visible and encouraging.
Davinder Khurana
December 7, 2011 - 2:11pmMr Justice Majmudar commented as " in the public........ what does this show?
ankur mudgal
December 1, 2011 - 7:51pmWith due respect to all the legal personalites including the judges and advocate Mr Ram Jethmalani , I being a student of law , making the usage of utmost level of My leagl knowledge . The remark made by Mr Sr adv Rmajethmalani will be considered totally baseless in thje eyes of Law , At times sitting in these positions and priviledged to make remarks and statements , eminent personalities tend to foget one big thing that there is Supermacy of the Law in this country , nobody is above the law . It may the judges or any eminent legal personality . So when they speak or make remarks , they use their seniority or positions ahead of it. What law has talked is totally the supermacy of the Law in the nation , it has claerly stated that equals should be treated equally and there has to be equality of opportunity,with statement and remarks they should talk reason and prudence with proper supplementation and augmentation with proofs . At the moment what Mr Rmajetmalani has remarked is tatally a baseless thing and it is just an act of his that is truly going beyond the Limits of his boundaries .law has established proper procedure , we no to abide by the law of the land .
Khurshid
December 1, 2011 - 11:17pmwhen corruption becomes law rebellion becomes a duty. Mr jethmalani may be guilty of contempt ,not of the judge but of the court. But what about a judge who is corrupt , does he not bring the judiciary in disregard. What about both when a case is not solved in a score of years. what is bringing judiciary into contempt; the spoken words or the often spoken acts.???
shumbhan
December 2, 2011 - 12:26pmprobably the terms used by Jethmalani have meanings unknown to us as of now. Please consult MV Jayarajan on the true meanings of these terms. May be these words, like "shumbhan", mean "one who shines" or "one who is blessed with extra-ordinary intelligence" in some Sanskrit or Latin dictionary.
Subhash Chauhan
December 2, 2011 - 12:26pmIn the name of maintaining so-called decorum/diplomacy/decency, most of so-called big personalities including of politicians, judges, bureaucrats etc. dont dare to speak truth, but Mr. Jethmalani. Hats off to Mr. Jethmalani for utterring true words. Otherwise also, what is the fun of maintaining such decency/diplomacy/decorum which doesn't allow to reach maximum near to the truth? If such alleged decency/decorum/diplomacy continues, justice goes farther rather denied.
wellsaid
December 2, 2011 - 9:33pmeither this is a symptom of old age or he is suffering from OCD - just attention seeking all the time (we r truly bored of ur tactics saar)
J Venkat
December 3, 2011 - 9:26pmRam Jethmalani says “Why do you (judge) adjourn when they (lawyers) ask for it? You also have become sycophants to maintain relationsâ€‌. Whether judges are sycophants or not is not the question and immaterial. But frequent adjournments are facts of most of the cases. One cannot deny this. The adjournment culture should be eschewed at all levels irrespective of bar and bench.
mir wajahat
December 3, 2011 - 9:59pmjethmalini is being guilty not only of d contempt of d institution but also of long drawn practices which has molded in uniform procedures paving opportunity and extension, inbuilt in such procedures; which primarily vest in only thing left with a judge i,e discretion. A judge cant act like a one eyed man looking at one mans angle as jethmalini, a judge cant be an emotional zealot as is mr jethmalini. Taking discretion means taking judgeship; one of d limbs of democracy.
mir wajahat
December 5, 2011 - 12:12amCJI Kapadia’s Law Day Address: Only Judges are not to be blamed for backlog of casesBar & Bench News NetworkNov 29, 2011At the National Law Day celebration, Chief Justice of India S. H. Kapadia made his point very clear regarding the pendency of cases in the Supreme Court. CJI said that the issues relating to pendency and arrears of cases have not been projected properly giving a “totally wrong impression that there have been millions of cases pendingâ€‌. While emphasising on the existence of Rule of Law and Separation of Power in a democratic country like India, he stated that every institution is ridden with certain deficiencies. These deficiencies have to be rejuvenated for an institution to survive and that can be done only with public support and faith in that particular institution. According to Justice Kapadia, to discard any system on the basis of a bad name is unjustified and the Status Report which was released on the same day proves the point that Judiciary has not failed in its endeavour to perform its duties and functions in accordance to the spirit of the Constitution. He reiterated his point that in most cases it is the judges who are blamed for the pending of cases but that is not what should be done. He said, “there is a need to highlight that all the stakeholders are accountable for maintaining and achieving standards of Court Excellence. The executive including the police and the Bar have an important role to play in expeditious disposal of casesâ€‌. Supporting his argument with the published Status Report, he stated that 74 percent of the cases pending in High court and subordinate courts are less than five years old. While he did not deny that there is a backlog of cases, however, it is not as big as is sought to be projected. According to the Status Report released for the first time, there are a total of 56,383 cases pending as recorded on November 1, 2011. Out of the total pending cases, there are 32,080 admission matters (miscellaneous), out of which 6,037 are complete in which all the preliminaries are completed and are ready for hearing and 26, 043 are incomplete in which the preliminaries not completed. The preliminaries that are not complete include process fee not paid, notice yet not served, pleadings not completed, notice of lodgement of appeal not served, statement of case not filed etc. On the other hand, there are 24,303 regular hearing matters out of which 10,407 are ready in which all the preliminaries are completed after admission and 13,896 are not ready in which preliminaries are still not complete. CJI said that the delay in the disposal of the matters was because of these preliminaries not being completed like failure to remove the defects and objections by the advocates. It can be summarised by saying that out of 56,383 pending cases, 39,939 (71 percent) are not ready due to preliminaries not completed and 16,444 are ready (29 percent) and hence the arrears in ready matters are only 8710 cases. The Report also shows that on average (two years) 710 days are taken to make matters complete. The Report also points out the rate of disposal in the Supreme Court. Between May 2008 to April 2009, 61,850 cases were disposed of and there was prominent increase in the rate of disposal between May 2010 to April 2011, during which 79, 621 cases were disposed of. Moreover the Report has also published the disposal of cases on a five year basis between (December 31, 2005- December 31, 2010). In the Supreme Court, high court and subordinate courts, out of 11.16 crore pending cases, 10.77 crore were disposed of. CJI in the report has pointed out the cases falling under the Negotiable Instruments Act have been increasing and as per the available data there are 35 lakh cases pending in the subordinate courts and the reason for low disposal was incomplete service of summons in those cases. The CJI has come out with a suggestion that courts dealing with the NIA matters should be provided assistance of police station in the courts itself like other criminal cases. The Report also shows that the Government has increased the budget under various schemes in an effort to reduce pendency of cases. The budget for court infrastructure has been increased along with the budget for E-Courts. It’s markedly evident that the Government is doing its best in order to solve the problems of pending cases. Describing the focus of the Judiciary to be expeditious disposal of 26 percent of cases which are more than five years old, CJI has proposed the initiative of “Five plus freeâ€‌ by the year 2012. According to CJI, the whole solution to the problem of backlog of cases could be found by appointment of Working Committee on Arrears and Court Management. While agreeing Judicial Accountability is an integral part of the system at present, he advocated for a balanced approach towards Judicial Independence. He clearly stated that Judges don’t mind a studied fair criticism. However, he advised the Bar â€کdo not dismantle an Institution without showing how to build a better one’.
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