With the boycott of courts by a cross-section of lawyers continuing beyond two months, Madras High Court Chief Justice S.K. Kaul on Monday used the Independence Day platform to subtly drive home the point that such “non-cooperation” may not be advisable.
While Justice Kaul, who hoisted the national flag on the High Court campus, did not make a specific reference to the ongoing boycott, he cited Mahatma Gandhi’s non-cooperation movement and said, “The father of our nation utilised the instrument of non-cooperation against a foreign rule, so that we could get our own rule. That dictum with due respect doesn’t apply to our own rules. From non-cooperation it has to turn to cooperate for our rule to see development.”
Adverting to other issues, he said that good infrastructure and right number of judges are important aspects of justice delivery. “But I think it is time to find an out-of-the-box solution because we will never be able to get right number of judges in proportionate with the population. Some think process must start to deliver justice at the earliest. Considering the government being the largest litigator, heavy responsibility lies on the government in this regard but what is important than any of these things is the commitment and discipline towards the institution,” he said.
Noting that difference of opinions exists even in nuclear families, he said, “But you learn to reconcile those opinion to carry the family forward.
Similarly a nation is the larger representation of the same, there are differences of opinion, culture but all are bound within our nationhood. Unless we are united within ourselves it is not possible to work through the development.”
