Law and Life. II

“Intelligent or What?”

A Contempt Application was posted before a Hon’ble Judge. The learned Judge was highly disciplined and quite religious. But he used to get upset on noticing anything which is unjust.

The contempt alleged was against the Directors of one all India Public Sector undertaking. The said respondents were represented by the late Thiru. K.T. Palpandian who is known for his integrity and boldness. The learned Judge went through the counter filed by the respondents/Directors, turned to
Mr. Palpandian and asked.

“Mr. Palpandian, what is this, do your clients
think they are very intelligent or what.”

“My Lord they do not think so. But in case your Lordship thinks they are very intelligent after going through their counter; your Lordship should be right.”

The case was posted before some other Judge and
dismissed later.

“As your Lordship Pleases”

There are a few expressions and phrases often used and heard in court halls. In one sense they carry a lot of meaning and in yet another way they mean nothing.

“Your Lordship knows” is one such. It is a gentle
intimation to the learned Judge that ‘you do not seem to know the legal position’ or ‘what you say is not correct’.

In fact the Hon’ble Mr. Justice S. Mohan on hearing this ‘your Lordships knows’ used to reply immediately “I know nothing, you tell me.”

Another such expression is “As your Lordship pleases”. Late Mr. S. Chellaswamy had a loud voice. Once before a High Court Judge when the case was adjourned for some reason Mr. Chellaswamy wanted a certain date after going through his engagement diary

Mr. Chellaswamy

“My Lord, please have it on 31st August.”

The Judge,

“Have it on 28th August.”

The Judge again,

“No, it is not possible; have it on 28th.”

Mr. Chellaswamy,

“No my Lord please have on 31st.” The above request by the counsel and above reply from the Judge was repeated at least four times. At last the Judge became tired of this meaningless repetition and was unhappy and said “OK, have it on 31st August.”

“As your Lordship pleases” came from Mr. Chellaswamy in his thunderous voice.

All in the court hall laughed. After all who was pleased? Certainly not the Judge.

“As he Pleases my Lord”

Once late Mr. U.N.R. Rao wanted a certain date for a case before the Hon’ble Mr. Justice V. Ramaswamy and the learned Judge was silent and hesitant. The learned Judge had an
excellent Court Officer. He knew that the Judge would be going on leave for some personal work and understood why the learned Jude was silent about that date. He quietly collected the case bundle from the dias and declared that the case is adjourned to a certain other date (on which date the Judge would rejoin after leave).

Mr. Rao followed the whole thing, laughed and said loudly “As he pleases my Lord.”

The learned Judge could not control his laughters.

“Ganapathi Agraharam attorney is also...”

Late Mr. G. Ramaswamy was very shrewed and knew how to get his things done. He never bothered too much as to what others would think about him.

One day Mr. S. Chellaswamy, a Barrister had arranged one of his matters to be argued by a popular American Attorney. The American and Mr. Chellaswamy were waiting before the then First Bench headed by Chief Justice M.N. Chandurkar for their turn. After some time the American became restless as he was not used to waiting for cases and starred at  Mr. Chellaswamy.

Mr. Chellaswamy attempted to mention for immediate hearing. He got up and said “my lord, the American Attorney is waiting......” Before he could continue or complete the sentence and request, another louder voice was heard from the rear,
 “My Lord this Ganapathi Agraharam attorney is also waiting.” This was from Mr. G. Ramaswamy. His native village is Ganapathi Agraharam.

Chief Justice M.N. Chandurkar smiled at both and said that the cases would be taken up in the same order in which they were shown in the list.

When did he become a reader

During the Prime Ministership of late Morarji Desai he introduced total prohibition in the Union territory of Pondicherry. It was a bolt from the blue to all living there.

Hundreds of writ petitions were filed questioning the policy of prohbition in Pondicherry and they came up before the Hon’ble Mr. Justice S. Mohan. It was argued in a fully packed court hall by great lawyers like Mr. V.P. Raman, Mr. G. Ramaswamy and so on. Mr. C. Krishnan (now a Senior Advocate) was the
Government Pleader and Public Prosecutor for Pondicherry Union Territory. He was also a part time lecturer in the law college. Normally he would avoid arguing before Mr. Justice S. Mohan. The Judge also used to post his cases before some other court. Mr. C. Krishnan had engaged Mr. V.K. Thiruvengadachari one of the doyens of the Bar to argue the case on behalf of Pondicherry Union Territory. But unfortunately when the matter was taken up,
Mr. V.K. Thiruvengadachari had gone to Vellore C.M.C. Hospital for some check up and could not be present.

In a crowded court hall several leading counsel for writ
petitioners had argued for nearly 3 hours. The counter filed by Pondicherry administration was repeatedly read and attacked as baseless. After they concluded their arguments Mr. C. Krishnan was called up on to present his.

Mr. C. Krishnan was in a genuine quandary.
Mr. V.K. Thiruvengadachari had prepared the case in a certain manner and Mr. C. Krishnan could not argue on those lines. He was not sure whether the case would be over that day or would continue for the next day. In any case next day Mr. V.K. Thiruvengadachari would be here. He did not want to argue the merits so that Mr. V.K. Thiruvengadachari could proceed tomorrow in his own style. But he could not refuse to argue.
The law Secretary of Pondicherry Union
Mr. Chandrasekara Menon was also present in court hall. So, in this context he thought, he could read the counter of Pondicherry for some time. He hoped, either the Judge may adjourn it to next day or he himself may request it to be heard next day after a while. Hence, he started to read his counter which atleast was read aloud for 10 times by the petitioners’ counsel.

All present in the court, counsel, parties and the judge became restless. The court hall was sweating because of the crowd and there was no air conditioning those days. No one knew how to stop the reading. Mr. G. Ramaswamy got up and drew the attention of
the Judge, by saying “My Lord”, and the Judge turned to him asked ‘yes’ “My Lord I know my friend
(Mr. C. Krishnan) is a ‘Lecturer’. Suddenly he has become a ‘Reader.’”

Thus it came to an end and the Judge also adjourned the matter to the next day. Mr. C. Krishnan also succeeded in his endeavour to get a postponement.