The Verdictum: Justice M.Y. Eqbal

Justice MY Eqbal was elevated to the Supreme Court of India on December 24, 2012. After serving as a judge of the apex court for over three years (1,145 days), on February 12 this year he became the latest judge to retire from the Supreme Court..Justice Eqbal decided to pursue law after obtaining a degree in Science from Ranchi University. After graduating in law, he started practicing in 1975 and made his bones as a standing counsel for many banks, insurance companies and financial institutions..He was elevated to the bench in May 1996, as a judge of the Patna High Court. Later, with the formation of the new state of Jharkhand in 2000, he became a judge of the Jharkhand High Court..In 2003, he was nominated by then Chief Justice of India VN Khare as one of the members of Ravi and Beas Water Tribunal to deal with water disputes among Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. In his home state, he held the post of Chairman, Jharkhand Human Rights Commission, Executive Chairman of Jharkhand State Legal Services Authority and Judge-in-charge of the state’s Judicial Academy..He was appointed Chief Justice of the Madras High Court in June 2010, before being elevated to the Supreme Court..Month-wise distribution of rulings.During his tenure in the Supreme Court, Justice Eqbal passed a total of 233 orders and judgments. It is interesting to note that he authored slightly more than half of these, with 120 rulings bearing his name. His most productive months were September and February, having made 40 and 27 rulings respectively during these months. However, the number of rulings were as low as 11 in November and 14 in March, his two least productive months..Day-wise productivity.Justice Eqbal made an average of around 0.2 rulings per day, with that number rising to 0.44 rulings a day in September, and dropping to 0.12 in November..Year-wise distribution of rulings.Justice Eqbal was part of 85 rulings in 2015, the penultimate year of his tenure at the apex court. He made 70 and 69 rulings in his first two years as a Supreme Court judge, in 2013 and 2014 respectively..YearNo. of rulings20137020146920158520169TOTAL233.Bench-wise distribution of rulings .Justice Eqbal sat with a total of 19 Supreme Court judges, including 3 Chief Justices of India – P Sathasivam, HL Dattu and TS Thakur JJ. In addition to this, he was part of a 3-judge bench 19 times and part of a Constitution bench of 5 judges thrice. He sat with Justice C Nagappan a total of 37 times, with Justice Sathasivam 26 times and with Justice PC Ghose 25 times..Case-type distribution of rulings.A majority of his rulings were in civil appeals: 141 or 60.5% of his 233 rulings. He also decided on 68 criminal appeals, and a total of 5 writ petitions..Notable judgments.In Major Saurabh Charan v. Lt. Governor NCT Delhi, he was part of the Bench that held that schools must grant admission to children whose parents were transferred to Delhi from other parts of the country midway through the academic year..In, Registrar General, High Court of Madras v. R Gandhi, he dealt with the issue of judicial appointments to the higher judiciary. In that case, writ petitions were filed in the Madras High Court seeking the return of the list of 12 judges recommended by the High Court collegium, on the ground that they were not “suitable” for elevation. It was held that judicial review is permissible only on assessment of eligibility and not on suitability..He was part of the bench that refused to grant bail to YS Jaganmohan Reddy, who was facing charges under the Prevention of Corruption Act. In light of the insurmountable evidence against the son of former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YSR Reddy, the court felt that releasing him on bail would hamper the investigation..In Faculty Association, AIIMS v. Union of India, he was part of a Constitution bench which held that reservation may not be advisable in regard to various technical posts, including posts in super-specialty in medicine..He showed that he was a staunch advocate of disability rights, prompting the government to be more proactive in implementing measures in the field. In December, he directed all States and Union Territories to include acid attack victims in the disability list. More recently, in, a case relating to the rape of a blind girl, he was part of the bench that directed all States and Union Territories to formulate a uniform scheme to compensate physically handicapped victims of rape or sexual exploitation..He was also instrumental in making authorities fulfil their obligations under the Right to Information Act, noting on more than once occasion, the growing trend of dismissing RTI applications for the weakest of reasons..In RBI v. JN Mistry, he came down heavily on the Reserve Bank of India, holding that the banking regulator was duty-bound to disclose information regarding public sector banks. The RBI’s argument that the information was held in a fiduciary capacity and hence was exempt under the RTI Act was deemed “absurd”..In his last judgment before retirement, he was part of the bench that upheld a Kerala High Court decision deeming Public Service Commissions to be within the purview of the RTI Act. It was also held that they are bound to provide scanned copies of answer sheets of the written test, copy of the tabulation sheet and other information..Image taken from here.