Fortunate to be judge in India and not Pakistan where a Chief Justice has to fight with President: Madras High Court's Justice PN Prakash

Madras High Court judge Justice PN Prakash on Wednesday said that he was fortunate to have been a judge in India and not in a failed State like Pakistan where even the Chief Justice has to fight with the President..Justice Prakash, who retired from office today, was speaking at his farewell function organised by the Madras High Court Advocates Association."I think to myself that I did not become a judge in a country such as Ukraine where a judge needs to carry arms to Court to defend his country. I did not become a judge in a failed state like Pakistan where my hero judge, Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry had to fight Musharraf every other day and issue a Habeas Corpus Petition. I became a judge in this country called Bharat, which has a Constitution that has survived since 1950, drafted by Dr Ambedkar and his great team, and preserved by the citizens of this country. If not for this Constitution, I would not have become a judge," Justice Prakash said..Justice Prakash went on to say that the Tamil Nadu Bar was one of the most learned and erudite. "65 percent of our staff are women. You want to see how committed they are, go to the South Gate at 9.30 am any day to see these women sprinting to court from Fort station. Mind you, these are women who are also homemakers, who have to get the food ready, send their children to school, and then rush to court," he said. The court staff the most committed and the registry, beginning from the cleaning and maintenance staff to the Registrar General, were most earnest, he added.Justice Prakash who began as a lawyer practicing primarily on the criminal side, was elevated as an additional judge of the Madras High Court in 2013. He was made permanent judge in 2015. .Addressing the gathering at the farewell function, Tamil Nadu Advocate General R Shunmugasundaram said that since being elevated to the Bench, Justice Prakash has disposed of 69,190 cases. Justice Prakash, however, said he was able to dispose of so many cases only because of the able assistance he received from the Bar. "The members of our Bar do not waste time on any nonsense. In other high courts, lawyers clutch on to the police report and argue for days and the court listens to them," Justice Prakash said. "Besides, in a short time from now, artificial intelligence will be able to do this job better than Prakash. So I tell myself, forget the statistics of cases..how many causes was I able to serve? That is more important," he said