Transfer orders part of service; once the order comes, you have to go: Justice T Raja retires as Madras High Court judge

Madras High Court Acting Chief Justice T Raja retired from service on Wednesday as a "happy and fully satisfied" man. .Justice Raja retired while the Supreme Court Collegium's repeated recommendations to transfer him to the Rajasthan High Court remained to be notified by the Central government..Incidentally, in his speech during the farewell ceremony organized by the Madras High Court on Wednesday, Justice Raja said there was no point questioning transfer orders of judges, as it was simply one of the conditions of the job."In service law, whenever anyone is challenging the validity of a transfer order...when someone from Calcutta is transferred to Madras, from Madras to Kashmir, Assam, and other places...normally, we as judges say a transfer order is nothing but an incident of service. Just one of the conditions of this job. Therefore, once the order comes, you have to go," ACJ Raja said..The judge also narrated an incident from his days as a lawyer when he had gone to brief Senior Advocate Harish Salve in a case."I and R Shunmugasundaram (current Advocate General of Tamil Nadu) went to brief Harish Salve in a matter along with another important person. He didn't even offer us coffee or water. A lawyer who was adjudged as one of the highest tax paying lawyers, one who has paid ₹100 crores in a year, an amount even higher than that paid by superstar Amitabh Bachchan...Therefore, after observing their (senior lawyers) behavior with their juniors or with judges, I have learnt some things," he said. .During the event, Justice Raja advised young lawyers to keep learning, to improve their spoken English skills, to remind grounded and to learn and remember case laws."To become legendary lawyers like Palkhiwala, HM Seervai etc you must learn to work very hard, learn the art of patience, persuasion and humility. You also have to improve your English language skills. Sometimes, you will need to appear before High Courts in other states, the Supreme Court. You will meet lawyers from different states there. Therefore, you have to know compulsorily how to speak properly in English," Justice Raja said..He recalled that during his years as a lawyer, and while on the Bench, he learnt much from senior lawyers and colleagues. Some, he said, were epitomes of humility and kindness, and others, not as much."I imitated those who were so good at their jobs and yet, kind and humble. There is nothing wrong in imitating or learning from our seniors," he said..Justice Raja served as a judge of the Madras High Court for 13 years and as acting Chief Justice of the Court for eight months.