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Who can judge a judge’s courtroom behaviour towards lawyers, litigants?

Team SoOLEGAL 18 Dec 2017 2:00pm

Image courtesy: Indian Express Who can judge a judge’s courtroom behaviour towards lawyers, litigants?

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Judges dispense justice. Lawyers seekjusticefor litigants. Judges and lawyers share the common goal of ensuring justicetoevery litigant. Given the shared responsibility, one would naturally expect that they share a cordial relationship inside courtrooms to help expand and enrich the legal knowledge base for efficient and effective dispensation of justice.


Last week, we had written about a small band of advocates who have perfected the art of ‘I am right’ belligerence to browbeat judges and attempt to extort desired results. This minuscule number of lawyers has masteredthe art of discrediting a judge by questioning his integrity through insinuations stemming solely from suspicion. A judge is a sitting duck for such antics as he exercises moral authority, so very integral and intrinsicto judicial authority, only on the basis of his credibility.


But there is a small number of judges, whose behaviour inside courtrooms towards lawyers is way below the desired level. Through the years, one has observed that pendency of cases in courts has plateaued at the three core mark. The existing strength of judges, despite huge vacancies in all three tiers of judiciary, has been able to dispose of the cases that get filed in courts every year.


Monstrous pendency figures and constant criticism of delayed justice do play a role in leaving some temperamental judges irritated when a lawyer attemptstoexplain his client’s case in detail. True, the case has been decidedby thetrial court and the high court and hence does not require explaining at great length.


But the Supreme Court being the final citadel of justice, can a lawyer be faulted for attempting to get a fair hearing to convince the judge as well as his client that no one is condemned unheard in the apex court.


For a wronged litigant, the SC is the last hope for justice. He goes there with a prayer in his heart. When he finds a certain judge deriding his lawyer and not allowing him to argue the case by frequently interrupting him with sarcasm, his hopes turn into fear. When a litigant startsfearing a court because of a certain judge’s courtroom behaviour, the core philosophy of the justice delivery system gets breached.


A judge’s unwarranted hostility or disdainful attitude seriously hampers a lawyer’s ability, as an ‘officer of the court’ or as a ‘minister of justice’, to render meaningful assistance to the court in the dispensation of justice. If the courts represent the wheel of justice, then judges are its cog, the lawyers its spokes and the litigants the rim of the wheel. Allfour are inalienable tothe justice delivery system.


But who will judge a judge’s judicial behaviour? The SC in C Ravichandran Iyer vs Justice A M Bhattacharjee [1995 SCC (5) 45] gave a detailed analysis on this sensitive subject.


It said, “It is a basic requirement that a judge's official and personal conduct be free from impropriety; the same must be in tune with the highest standard of propriety and probity. The standard of conduct is higher than expected of a layman and also higher than expected of an advocate. In fact, even his private life must adhere to high standards of probity and propriety, higher than those deemed acceptable for others. Therefore, the judge can ill afford to seek shelter from the fallen standard in society.


“Bad behaviour of one judge has a rippling effect on the reputation of the judiciary as a whole. When theedifice of judiciary is built heavily on public confidence and respect, the damage by an obstinate judge would rip apart the entire judicial structure built in the Constitution.


“Bad conduct or bad behaviour of a judge, therefore, needs correction to prevent erosion of public confidence in the efficacy of judicial process or dignity of the institution or credibility to the judicial office held by the obstinate judge.”


In thesame judgment, the SC had provided a way out for advocates, who consistently suffer indignant behaviour or ill treatment at the hands of a particular judge. It said, “In all fairness to the judge, the responsible officebearers (of a bar association) should meet him in camera after securing interview and apprise the judge of the information they had with them.


“If there is truth in it, there is every possibility that the judge would mend himself. Or to avoid embarrassment to the judge, the office-bearers can approach thechief justice(of that high court or the SC) and apprise him of thesituation with material they have in their possession and impress upon the chief justice to deal with the matter appropriately.”


Lawyers are best placed to comment on a judge’s courtroom conduct, which even Parliament is barred from discussing as a mark of respect to judicial independence. To use the power of contempt of court, conferred on the judiciary to maintain its independence and authority, to silence criticism of a judge’s conductin a courtroom would be counter-productive.


What is needed is periodic dialogue between bar leaders and the Chief Justice of India and his colleague judges to strive for improvement in judges’ behaviour in court. Leaders of the bar must keep in mind the larger interest — efficacy of judiciary to dispense justice — while suggesting correction of a judge’s court behaviour. This will help maintain the dignity of courts and public faith in judiciary.


Source: TOI



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