“I Hope Chief Justice Muralidhar Will Be Elevated To Supreme Court Soon”: Former CJI Justice GB Patnaik

Notably, Justice Muralidhar has been serving as Chief Justice of the Orissa High Court since January, 2021. Last year the Supreme Court Collegium had recommended to transfer him as the Chief Justice of the Madras High Court. However, the recommendation did not get approval of the centre.

On Saturday, Justice Patnaik was speaking at the felicitation ceremony of the former Chief Justices and Judges of the Orissa High Court as a part of its 75^th year anniversary celebration. The event was attended by a galaxy of dignitaries including Justice BR Gavai, Judge, Supreme Court and Justice Dipak Misra, former CJI.

At the outset, Justice Patnaik lauded the initiative taken by the Orissa High Court under the leadership of Chief Justice Dr. S. Muralidhar to felicitate the former Judges of the High Court, which he deemed as unique and appreciable.

He said, the completion of 75 years of an institution is a great event and in case of High Court, it is an event of greater public importance. He stressed that the event is not an occasion merely to exchange greetings and pleasantries, but also to introspect the working of the institution.

He further said that Court symbolises the shape of judicial system in a State. Thus, it is important to have a close look at the system to see whether the it has functioned well or there is any gap somewhere which can be filled.

“When I start searching in that regards, my memory takes me down to July, 1948 when four Hon’ble Judges starting from Chief Justice Bira Kishore Ray had taken oath and I, as a school student, had seen that function where my teacher had told me that the institution is a great institution and you will know about it later in life. At that point of time, I never knew that I will also be a part of this institution and I would die in this institution,” he added.

He highlighted that as of now, the Judge strength of the Orissa High Court is 24 which is six times higher than the initial strength of Judges. But having regard for the backlog of cases, he insisted that the strength should still go up.

He expressed his views on the recently released Annual Report-2022 of the Orissa High Court. He said that the report reflects an all-round improvement of the institution which has been trying hard to fulfil the constitutional obligation and also endeavoured to incorporate the technological advancements in the justice delivery system.

He underlined the key highlights of the report in terms of infrastructural development and digitisation of old records through the Record Room Digitization Centre (RRDC), the District Court Digitization Centres (DCDCs) and District Court Digitization Hubs (DCDHs). Further he said,

“…this institution has a unique distinction of having a Justice Museum [the ‘Museum of Justice’] and I must tell all my colleagues who are present here to make at least a visit to that institution for 15 minutes before you leave the State.”

He also highlighted that in its history spanning over the last 75 years, the Orissa High Court has produced as many as eight Judges, who went on to serve in the Supreme Court of India, out of whom three Judges ended up holding the chair of Chief Justice of India, i.e. Justice Ranganath Misra, Justice Gopala Ballav Patnaik and Justice Dipak Misra.

Besides that, 10 Chief Justices of the High Court, whose parent High Courts are situated in other States, were elevated to the Apex Court.

“When I took oath as the Chief Justice of Patna High Court way back in 1995, the Chief Minister there had told me that whosoever comes to Patna as Chief Justice, gets elevated to the Supreme Court. That may be correct then, but I would say, whosoever has come to Odisha as Chief Justice, he has been elevated to the Supreme Court and I hope that the present Chief Justice will follow soon.”

He further said that the image of the Court does not solely depend upon the architectural beauty and spaciousness of the Court building, rather it depends essentially upon the way the cases are handled, the extent of confidence the institution inspires, upon the promptness or absence of delay in disposal of cases and also, on the credibility of the institution.

“Respect for the Court and judicial system depends upon the way it satisfies the hope and aspiration of the common man and in keeping the scales of justice even in the legal combat between the rich and the poor, between the mighty and the weak and between the State and the citizens.”

He conveyed his belief that the present generation of judges and lawyers are much more intelligent, ambitious and focussed in their activities. He said, it is therefore the bounden duty of the present Judges and lawyers to find out and evolve methodology to quickly decide cases.

Justice Patnaik quoted Lord Denning who once said, “Justice is rooted in confidence and confidence is destroyed when right-minded go away thinking that a Judge is biased.”

He reminded the legal fraternity that the time of the Court is sacrosanct and therefore, no Judge or any member of the Bar has any right to waste it. He called upon both the Bench and the Bar to coordinate and cooperate with each other. He expressed hope that both the organs, by working together, can even tackle the threats to independence of the judiciary.