MAT Farewell Speech

(Speech made on the occasion of the farewell party hosted by legal colleagues when he retired as Vice Chairman, Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal)

My interaction with the cream of the legal fraternity dates back to the turbulent period in the nation's history, the Emergency. I was putin charge of processing various writ petitions filed by top political leaders who were detained under MISA, including Shri Morarji Desai, Jayaprakash Narayan, AB Vajpayee, LK Advani and others. They had filed writ petitions in various high courts challenging their detentions. While many senior members of eminent counsel were willing to appear for these detinues, hardly any senior lawyer was willing toappear for the government. In fact, I recall an amusing incident. Shri KuldipNayyar,an eminent journalist, was detained in Delhi. He challenged his detention under MISA in the Delhi high court. We contacted a senior counsel after a good deal of effort on phone, who agreed to appear for the government. I went to him to brief him on the stand of the givernment in regard to various grounds raised in the petition. When the lawyer saw the name of Kuldeep Nayyar on the first page of the writ petition, he said "I am sorry there is a mixup. I wont be able to appearfor the government. When i enquired with him the reason for his backtracking, he said "I seem to have misheard your Joint Secy. I thought it was Mair. I just realised that it was Kuldeep Nayyar, who is a close relative of mine. I left the place quietly, wondering about the remote posiibility of engaging another counsel.The Bar is one of the pillars of our judicial system. I thank the learned members of the Bar with whom i had occasion to interact for the last five years for their unstinted cooperation in the disposal of cases. My encounter with them was pleasant, enlightening and educative. The marshalling of arguments and my attempts to understand their points espoused point of view when the cause of their cleints many times led to what i would call "syllogistic cudgelling of each other out of our wits". There were fireworks sometimes, but there was no bitterness. There was always bonhomie and every issue was tackied with the right spirit.Even in court no. 3, where i used to hear cases of Single Bench, more heat than light was generated, primarily because the room was not air coditioned!My learned brother and I decided to follow certain ground rules during the hearing of cases. Patient hearing, seeking clarification on points, were such ground rules. My interruptions in this court may have been irksome, but i always felt that it was better for the learned counsel to throw light then and there, as opposed to leaving issues to the realm of conjecture. Passing ordersand rulings on the fixed dates was another ground rule. Judicial restraint was another salient principle we followed. Intemperate language either in our orders or during the course of hearings was taboo, and scruplously avoided, though in some matters, especially in contempt proceerdings, there were provocative circumstances.I'll relish with fondness, memories of my association with the Tribunal. The groundswell of goodwill will be a source of strength to me during my retirement.