Justice Y V Chandrachud: master of judicial prose — and morning tea ceremony

We have a rich heritage of legal and judicial minds. Their life journeys are a gallery of enjoyable and memorable vignettes. Therefore, I thought of sharing some. We have just ushered in 2024. They would provide warmth in this chilly weather.

Justice BK Mukherjea, former Chief Justice of India, established a tradition of judicial independence. He refused Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru’s offer to become the Chief Justice before his time superseding two of his brother judges. The first CJI, HJ Kania died in November 1951. There was a proposal to appoint BK Mukherjea as his successor ignoring Patanjali Sastra and MC Mahajan. Both Sastri and Mahajan were not opposed to this proposal as they seriously thought that Mukherjea deserved it much more.

On the other hand, Mukherjea was not agreeable. He threatened to resign if he was appointed CJI by superseding the two senior brother judges. He became CJI on his turn.

Justice William Doughlas of the US Supreme Court delivered the Tagore Law Lectures in 1955, titled ‘From Marshall to Mukherjea: Studies in American and Indian Constitutional Law’. Once MC Setalvad (the first Attorney General of India) appeared before a bench presided over by Justice Mukherjea. The record indicated that party for whom Setalvad was appearing was poor. Justice Mukherjea humorously observed, how the party could afford the services of the Attorney General. Setalvad responded, “My Lord, the Attorney General always does not charge the fee”. The quick appreciative retort was : “We are glad to hear that”.

In the family of Justice YV Chandrachud, former CJI, there was a tradition that the morning tea was prepared by the head of the family. Justice Chandrachud did that, even as the CJI. One wonders, whether the same is being continued.

His son and Justice DY Chandrachud (now CJI) came to Chandigarh Judicial Academy to inaugurate Family Courts workshop in 2017. He shared that his mother had difficulty in walking. He asked his father, why he didn’t get her a walking stick. The response was, as long as, she has my hand and my shoulder, she does not need a stick.

Justice MC Chagla was Chief Justice of Bombay High Court from August 15, 1947 till September, 1958. These were “11 luminous years”. In his farewell address, YV Chandrachud, the government pleader (as he then was) said : “When you read those judgments, you feel you are at a reception to celebrate the wedding of Law and Literature’.

Justice YV Chandrachud was master judicial craftsman in the English speaking world. His opinions were gems. People would often ask him, when did you study at Oxford. He would say his Oxford was Nutan Marathi Vidyalaya where he studied in Marathi medium. He started learning English language only from class 7. Yet, he was the master of judicial prose. He also had a very warm and firm handshake even at 86 as I once experienced at the swearing-in of Justice HS Bedi as the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court in October 2006.

Justice TS Thakur retired as CJI on January 3, 2017. At the farewell, in the Supreme Court, Justice JS Khehar recalled that when he had met Justice Thakur in 2008 at the Punjab & Haryana High Court, he thought that the latter was an extremely handsome man. He wondered, what women must be thinking. Justice Khehar described Justice Thakur as the most handsome CJI.

Justice Khehar had the audience in splits when he narrated how Justice Thakur once told him that he had bought his Harris jacket from New York. Justice Khehar promptly told him that UK and not the USA is the home of Harris.

Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru was one of the best legal minds of the country. It is believed that if he had applied himself solely to the academic side of law, he would have been Holdsworth or Maitland or Dicey. Sapru was a great scholar of Persian and Urdu. He had gone to Hyderabad to argue a case and was opposed by Jinnah. There was an original document in Persian. The counsel for the parties were requested to read it out for the benefit of the court. Jinnah could not read Persian. Sapru fluently read out the entire document. This created a sensation. The next day newspapers commented with the headline : ‘Pandit Jinnah and Maulvi Sapru’. Sapru was equally proficient in Urdu. When Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad published a book in Urdu, he requested Sapru to pen the foreword.

Bhulabhai Desai, with the most extensive practice at the Bombay Bar since his enrollment in 1905, would often share the valuable advice from his mentor, Sir George Lowndes, who told him: “If you are useful to me, I will be useful to you.”

As a young lawyer engrossed in taking notes at the Bar library, Bhulabhai received another lesson from JD Inverarity, a legal giant, who tore up his notes. “Learn to trust your memory.” Bhulabhai came to be known for his photographic memory. Even in a complex case briefed by BP Khaitan, he astounded the court with a flawless, unaided presentation, setting a precedent in legal eloquence.