(Continued from last fortnight)

The Memoirs of Justice Natarajan, Part II

My elevation in February 1973 from being Chief Presidency Magistrate to Judge of the High Court of Madras was welcomed by the members of the Bar and the judiciary, but even greater was the welcome by the Thondai Mandala Saiva Vellalar community, from which I was the first person to be elevated to the High Court. From all over the State, my community warmly congratulated me on my elevation. A big felicitation party was jointly arranged for Sarojini Varadappan and me at Hotel Ashoka, Egmore,Madras, as she had been appointed Chairman of the Central Social Welfare Board with the rank of a Union Minister of State. More than 300 people attended the felicitation party and richly complimented Sarojini Varadappan and me on our respective appointments. That felicitation party led to the formation of the Sekkizhar Cultural and Educational Society for promoting the interests and welfare of the community’s people. While my elevation brought me joy beyond measure, I also felt sad that my father was not alive to see me sitting as a Judge on the High Court Bench. However, I had the satisfaction of my father-in-law and mother in-law, as well as my paternal uncle Subbaraya Mudaliar and aunt Rajamma, being there to rejoice in my appointment and bless me.

The travails of being a Judge

Amid this joy, there was also a problem: I had no house to move into in my capacity as a High Court Judge. The service conditions of Judges in recent times have vastly improved due to revision of salary, recommended by the Pay Commission, besides provision of rent-free furnished Government bungalows, staff cars with free petrol up to a certain limit, free telephone facilities, security arrangements, etc. In those days, Judges of the High Court were neither provided with Government bungalows nor with staff cars by the State Government. The lack of an official car was not a big problem because I had my own car, but the lack of a house was. Though I had purchased my present house in East Abhiramapuram in 1972 itself, I could not move into that house straightaway because there were two tenants occupying the ground floor and first floor portions, and they wanted time to vacate. In spite of my best efforts, I could not succeed in making the Government allot one of the Government bungalows to me. Therefore, I had to search for a rented house. Most of the good houses were offered on high rents beyond the salary of a High Court Judge, which was only Rs. 3,500/- per month then. My quest resulted in my securing a small house in the Santhome area, which belonged to the archbishop. The fair rent of the house was Rs. 30/-, but I offered to pay 10 times the fair rent provided he made some improvements to the house. The archbishop was good enough to accept my offer and improved the house to a certain extent. Since all Judges other than the Chief Justice did not have Staff Cars, we resorted to a pool system in which three or four of us would go together to the High Court. For some years I had the pleasure and privilege of sharing the pool system with Justice T. Rama Prasada Rao and Justice M. M. Ismail, and later with Justice S. Mohan, Justice V. Sethuraman and Justice R. Sengottuvelan.

Varied Nature of Cases

I was first appointed as an Additional Judge for a period of two years, but this was confirmed in February 1974 itself. Thus, I became a permanent Judge of the High Court from February, 1974. As a High Court Judge, I had the satisfaction of not only sitting with eminent Judges of the High Court, but also on various Benches dealing with different kinds of cases. I have sat on the Original Side of the High Court and heard original suits of all kinds, as well as Company matters. I was a ­member of benches dealing with first appeals and, on the criminal side, referred trial cases. I handled several Revision Petitions, Civil Miscellaneous Appeals, Second Appeals, Criminal Revisions, Criminal Appeals, etc. The only two types of cases which I did not handle were concerning Taxation Law and Company Law.

During my period of office as a Judge of the High Court, I had the services of an excellent stenographer named G. P. Subbaraman. He was my stenographer at Coimbatore. Seeing his good work, Justice K. S. Ramamurthy took him to the High Court, and therefore when I became a Judge of the High Court, he was allotted to me as stenographer. He was a very efficient, honest, loyal, and obedient stenographer, and served me faithfully for more than 13 years. He was like a member of the family. Reminiscing about my years in the High Court, I feel it my duty to acknowledge his valuable services.

The High Court of Madras.

The High Courts of Calcutta, Bombay and Madras are known as Chartered High Courts, because they were constituted as per Royal Charter given by Queen Victoria. All other High Courts in India were later constituted, but they were not constituted under Royal Charters issued by the Queen. As Chartered High Courts, these three had not only Appellate Jurisdiction, but also Original Jurisdiction. Therefore, in the Original Side of the High Court Civil Suits, Matrimonial Suits, Insolvency Cases, Admiralty Cases (cases relating to ocean-going vessels) would be heard and decided. A Judge sat singly or on a Division Bench consisting of two Judges. I have sat singly, as well as on Division Benches, and on some Full Benches comprising three judges. During my long period of judgeship for about 13 years in the Madras High Court, I have shared the Bench as Junior Judge and later as Senior Judge heading the Bench, and my association with three very eminent brother Judges is worth mentioning.

Justice T. Rama Prasada Rao

Justice T. Rama Prasada Rao, with whom I had sat for about one and a half years or more, was an erudite scholar, and his judgements were not only very sound, but also highly literary. He had a fine command of English. He was well-versed in all branches of law viz. Constitutional, Company, Civil Law and Admiralty. Before his elevation to the Bench, he had a roaring practice on the Original Side of the High Court. Justice Rama Prasada Rao was a Partner at John and Rao Company, a leading law firm. After his elevation as a Judge, Rama Prasada Rao handled all types of cases and proved to be an extremely intelligent, impartial, hardworking, and eminent Judge. His judgements laid sound principles of law. Some of them were path-breaking. He was a very jovial person and had a good sense of humour. The lawyers considered it a pleasure and privilege to appear in his Court. Justice Rama Prasada Rao and I got on very well, and he used to appreciate my viewpoints and judgements. I had learnt a lot sitting with him.

Justice M.M. Ismail

Justice M.M. Ismail.

The next Judge about whom I should refer is Justice M. M. Ismail, who was a great lover of Tamil and Tamil literature, particularly Kamba Ramayanam. He was the President of the Kamban Kazhagam of Tamil Nadu for a number of years. It was a literary treat to hear him speak in Tamil. He too was very proficient in all branches of law, and he had extraordinary memory power. When cases were argued before him, he would hardly take notes, but in his photographic memory all the facts and arguments would get fully registered, and even weeks or months afterwards he could recapitulate everything without any mistake or pause. Justice Ismail had been a part-time Lecturer at the Law College for several years and later was an eminent Professor of Law. Justice Subba Rao, Chief Justice of India, was on the lookout for a competent Judge belonging to the Muslim community to be appointed to the Delhi High Court. He rightly chose Justice Ismail for that post and persuaded him to accept the appointment and go over to Delhi. Justice Ismail not only proved himself to be a very competent Judge of the Delhi High Court, but also very popular. However, domestic factors compelled him to seek a transfer to Madras. His mother-in-law had no one to look after her except Justice Ismail and his wife. She could not be taken to Delhi on account of the extreme weather conditions there, and hence Justice Ismail sought a transfer to the High Court of Madras and came here, unmindful of losing the seniority he enjoyed in the Delhi High Court.

He was so sharp and clear in his views that he did not brook lawyers who came unprepared to Court to argue their cases or could not state the facts of their cases correctly. He had, if I may say so, a very sharp and caustic tongue, and would pull up the lawyers whenever their work was shabby. Though he had no personal animosity and had no intention of hurting anyone, he was often mistaken as an unsympathetic and harsh Judge. I had sat as a junior Judge with him on the Division Bench, and we got on excellently well. Many people used to wonder about this, but I found he was an exceedingly nice person and was always amenable to reason and logic. Like Justice Rama Prasada Rao, he was an authority on Constitutional Law, Property Law, Procedural Law, etc.

Due to some mischievous elements carrying on a tirade against him and accusing him of communal bias, he was transferred to the Kerala High Court. Justice Ismail felt offended by this and, refusing to go to Kerala, resigned his post, much to the regret of his admirers and well-wishers. I pleaded with him with all my persuasive powers to accept the transfer. However, he stubbornly refused to change his view and determinedly resigned his post. I am sure he would have made a mark on the Kerala High Court as its Chief Justice, and later would have been elevated to the Supreme Court as well, if only he had complied. It is a pity that the career of such a great Judge like him had to come to a sudden end by reason of his resigning his post on a matter of principle.

Justice G. Ramanujam

In addition to my mentioning the two eminent judges with whom I have sat in the Madras High Court, I must also make a reference to Justice G. Ramanujam. He was a very capable lawyer and had been Government Pleader as well. He was a competent Judge of the High Court and served in that post for about 16 years. In spite of such a long period of service, he could not become Chief Justice for want of vacancies. A request was made to Chief Justice Chandurkar to go on leave for two or three weeks, so that Justice Ramanujam could at least be Acting Chief Justice for a short period, but he did not oblige. We all felt disappointed by the non-co-operative attitude of Justice Chandurkar. By going on leave for a fortnight, he would not have lost anything, but by not going on leave he had deprived a Judge of 16 years of service from having the satisfaction of being an Acting Chief Justice at least for two weeks.