Judges Not Perfect Humans But Must Conduct Themselves Consistent With The Aura Of The Chair: Orissa High Court CJ Muralidhar

On Saturday, Chief Justice of Orissa High Court Dr. Justice S. Muralidhar joined in the oath taking ceremony of newly recruited 50 civil judges under the Odisha Judicial Service (OJS). While speaking on the occasion, he gave a number of advices to the young judicial officers and said, there is a decorum for the judicial office. He urged the judges to conduct themselves consistent with the ‘aura’ of the judicial chair and with the respect that the chair commands. Holding Judicial Office: A Learning Experience While beginning the speech, he made reference to ‘aksharabhyasham’, a ceremony in which a child is formally inducted into the literary world. He made an analogy between ‘aksharabhyasham’ and the oath taking ceremony of the Judicial Magistrates. “If you look at the entire judiciary, what you stepped into today is that stage of aksharabhyasam, where you are taking the first initial steps of entering this wonderful field. It is the field of learning, the first and foremost. Learning about other people’s lives. Learning about lives of people that may be completely different from yours. And this is a wonderful journey. If you look at it philosophically, every day you will not only learn about other people’s lives but learn of your own and it is also an unravelling of yourself to yourself. So, I think if you wake of every morning anticipating that today I am going to learn something about life, you will find this journey very exciting, very rewarding.” Being a Judge: More than a ‘Salaried Job’ Justice Muralidhar advised the newly inducted magistrates to see their profession from a broad perspective and not from a parochial standpoint of getting a salaried job. He said: “Don’t begin this journey with the idea that you have got a job. That is the wrong thing to start with. This is not a job that gives you salary, that is one way of looking at it of course. The salary which is much better than anyone of your peers and it is a job that you strive for and you got. That is one way of looking at it. But that is not the rewarding way of looking at it. Of course, you have struggled hard. You have done well in your studies, exams and interview. Some of us sitting here have interviewed you and you have gone through the test. It is a difficult and arduous process. We appreciate that very deeply. Many of us sitting in this room and including some of your parents have gone through this process of rigorous selection, but what is wonderful about this is the journey of life.” Judges Grow as the Judicial System Grows He said, though many of his colleagues in the High Court and he himself have joined the Judiciary after spending years in the Bar, but joining it has been a new learning experience. An experience which enables a person to look at things from 360 degrees. “Law and justice delivery system has a very humbling effect on the person. Because every day you learn something new and you are able to see things in perspective. This will happen to you. It is inevitable for every judicial officer, for every judge. It is inevitable that we also grow as the system grows, as the system evolves. We are part of the whole process. How you feel today about a certain issue is not the way you will feel about the same two years or five years or ten years down the line. It is happening to judges day in and day out”, the Chief Justice added. Judiciary is not an Ideal System He urged the civil judges to prepare themselves to accept that they are bound to make mistakes, but what is most important is learning from those mistakes. If they stop to learn from the mistakes, they stop to grow. “Nobody is perfect in the system and the system itself is not perfect. The system is not an ideal system. Some rosters you may have will be easy rosters, some will be difficult rosters. Some courts you may handle may be easy courts, some may be very difficult courts. Some courts will have a perfect ambience for you, some court will not have the perfect ambience.” Further, he said: “Sometimes you will have colleagues with whom you get along very well and sometimes, you will be in situations when you don’t agree with your colleagues. You may have superiors to you in the system, which is bound to be there as it is a hierarchal system, with whom you have difficulties or you may have people working for you, whose work you supervise, who may cause difficulties. But importantly, you should be aware that you yourself may be the cause for the difficulty.” Having said the above, he however admitted and acknowledged that judicial system is a very ‘humane system’. Lesson from Senior Advocate K.G. Kannabiran The Chief Justice remembered the words of K.G. Kannabiran, a legendary human rights activist and senior advocate from the Andhra Pradesh High Court and said: “One thing will change in your life when you sit in the court on the dais is that ...

Judges Not Perfect Humans But Must Conduct Themselves Consistent With The Aura Of The Chair: Orissa High Court CJ Muralidhar

Jyoti Prakash Dutta

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