Being a judge gives tremendous satisfaction: SC bench

Being a judge gives tremendous satisfaction: SC bench

WHAT ARE the advantages of being a judge? Not profits, but “tremendous satisfaction,” said a Supreme Court bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and MR Shah, as the hearing on a matter related to the Standing Commission for Women in the Army drifted into a discussion of the findings from the judiciary on Tuesday.

Judge Chandrachud started it by stating that “there is enormous satisfaction in being a judge.” He added that “granting permanent commission to more than 300 women is something that brings great satisfaction to a judge.”

Apparently the reference was to the February 2020 high court decision when a court headed by Judge Chandrachud asked the government to consider all female service officers on the Short Service Commission for the award of the Standing Commission, regardless of their mandate.

Judge Chandrachud referred to the rigors and monotony of being a judge. While in office, a judge has to stay up from morning to night following the same routine every day, he said. Judge Shah then intervened: “But you will have the job satisfaction of having done something for society.”

Addressing lead attorney Huzefa Ahmadi, Judge Chandrachud recalled that he once asked his father, former Chief Justice of India AM Ahmadi, in Ottawa when he was appearing before him in an arbitration matter “that after having spent all your career in service, what do you think is worth it? ”

“Absolutely. I have not regretted for a moment,” Judge Ahmadi had said, Judge Chandrachud noted, adding: “I suppose the same thing happens to me. I don’t feel any feeling of regret.”

“A lot of young lawyers ask me about the judiciary … You never look at your earnings when you become a judge,” he said, adding that one only asks if there is enough to support children’s education.

Judge Chandrachud noted that when he asked young lawyers in Mumbai to pursue a career in court, his response was: “We see him sitting in court every day and we don’t think we can do it every day.” Then he said, “So it’s basically a question of temperament.”

Joining the discussion, Additional Attorney General Sanjay Jain wanted to know why Senior Counsel Paramjit Singh Patwalia, who was also appearing in the matter, had resigned as judge. Patwalia responded that he spent nine months as a judge before resigning. Although it was “extremely satisfying,” he said, “the reason I left is very personal.”

Promoted to the High Court of Punjab and Haryana in March 2006, Patwalia resigned in December 2006 and has continued his career as a lawyer ever since.

In recounting his experience, Judge Shah said that, as a judge of the Gujarat High Court, he was able to grant more than 23,000 retired primary school teachers the benefit of a revised pension with an order. He recalled that after this, he received a letter from a widow in a rural area that said “justice is still alive.”

“That’s the satisfaction you get here,” he said.

Judge Chandrachud said it is not just about numbers, but also about opening a new space for women to be equal members of the workforce and equal contributors to the nation.

The court also used the occasion to underscore the importance of being a lawyer and your contribution to the work of a court. In this context, Judge Chandrachud recalled that he still remembers the words of former Supreme Court Justice AP Sen, who once told him in Nagpur when he was still a lawyer, that “there is unlimited satisfaction in being a judge, but it is the lawyers who leave traces in the sands of time ”.