The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Plainspeak by Katju

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Sep 28, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Plainspeak by Katju

Special Correspondent

"Not enough to praise retiring judges and forget them later" "They are our elder brothers and it is our culture to look after them properly"

Markandey Katju

CHENNAI: "I am sorry, this State Government is not looking after the retired Judges properly. Mr. Advocate-General, take note of this and ask your Chief Minister to issue a notification for medical reimbursement facility and `multi-purpose servant' provision for the retired Judges immediately," said the Madras High Court Chief Justice Markandey Katju. His remarks at a function to felicitate Justice K.P. Sivasubramaniam, who retired as Judge of the High Court on September 12. The function was organised by the Madras High Court Advocates Association (MHAA).

He said it was not sufficient to heap praise on honest and efficient judges at the time of their retirement and forget them thereafter. "Forgetting them and their welfare the moment they retire is not proper. They are frail and weak, and require medical attention. They are our elder brothers and it is our culture to look after them properly."

Criticising the State Government for not taking action on his request for extending the medical reimbursement facility for retired judges, Mr. Justice Katju said that when he took up a similar issue with the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Mulayam Singh Yadav, he passed necessary order instantaneously, "See what is happening in your State Mr. Advocate-General, posed the Chief Justice."

Pointing out that a medical reimbursement scheme was finalised by a committee of Judges comprising Justice F.M. Ibrahim Kalifulla, Justice D. Murugesan, Justice Prabha Sridevan and Justice N. Kannadasan, he said it had been submitted to the Government long back. Mr. Justice Katju also said that he was "compelled to make the issue public" as his repeated talks with the Advocate-General in private did not yield any result.

In his acceptance speech, Mr. Justice Sivasubramaniam wanted advocates to cooperate with the Bench to dispose of long-pending cases. He said lawyers, judges, doctors, politicians and police officers attracted public criticism because of high public expectations on them. He also said people expected simplicity from Judges, and added that they must live up to the high ethical standards expected of them. While the MHAA president, S. Prabakaran, said the successful tenure of Mr. Justice Sivasubramaniam was a lesson to future judges, the senior advocate and chairman of the Tamil Nadu Mediation Centre, Sriram Panchu, said there were requests to engage the Judge in arbitration proceedings.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Tamil Nadu