Turmoil In Gujarat High Court : Rooting For A Judge
BY R.K.MISRA
In a rare show of solidarity over the transfer of Justice Akil
Kureshi to Bombay High Court, the Bar in the Western India state of Gujarat went
on strike and relented only after a meeting with Chief Justice of India, Ranjan
Gogoi.
Rarely has the transfer of a High Court judge created the sort of
upsurge in the legal fraternity in
Gujarat as was witnessed when Justice
Akil Kureshi was moved to Bombay. The Bar struck work, and in one voice urged
the apex court to reconsider it’s decision.
On October 29,the supreme Court
Collegium had recommended transfer of justice Kureshi, the second most
senior judge of the Gujarat High Court to the Bombay High Court. It also cleared
the elevation of Gujarat High Court chief justice R.Subhash Reddy as a Supreme
Court judge. Ideally, after justice
Reddy’s promotion, Justice Kureshi should have been made acting chief
justice. But on November 1, the Centre issued a notification appointing Justice
A. Dave to this post and asked Justice Kureshi to take charge in Mumbai on or
before November 15.
On November 2,the government issued a fresh notification, ’in
supersession’ of the earlier one, and
appointed justice Kureshi to perform the duties of the chief justice of the
Gujarat High Court till this transfer. So, in effect, Justice Kureshi was
acting chief justice only for a very
short time.
This reportedly came about
after the CJI took up the matter with the government. On November 3, in an
interaction with the media in the Supreme Court press lounge, chief justice
Gogoi admitted the ‘mistake’ and said that it has been ‘corrected’. ” Mistakes
do happen”, he said.
No sooner was it known that Justice Kureshi has been transferred
to Mumbai, speculation was rife in legal circles that the move to transfer him
was done by the government to prevent him from taking over as the acting chief
justice of the Gujarat High Court.
The Gujarat High Court Advocates Association(GHAA) called an urgent meeting immediately after the news of his transfer on
November 1,and passed a unanimous decision stating that it finds no reason to
justify his transfer from senior-most
puisne judge of the Gujarat High Court to number five in the Bombay High Court
’ostensibly in the interest of better administration of justice’. The
resolution said that the ”Bar believes that such a transfer is unjustified and
certainly has no connection with better administration of justice. On the
contrary it impinges on the independence of the judiciary. It also resolved to
deprecate and condemn the transfer. ”The transfer is totally unwarranted, uncalled
for and unjust . Not only did it decide to strike work indefinitely but the
association also decided to challenge the transfer through a writ petition.
The letter stated that Justice Kureshi is currently the senior
most judge of the Gujarat High court
after Justice MR Shah who has been recommended for elevation to the
Supreme Court and Justice KS Jhaveri who is currently the chief justice of
the Orissa High Court. ”He is one of the
finest judges of the High court who is well respected for his intellect as well as for his dignified
conduct both on and off the Bench. Even
a brief look at his judgements would make it apparent that he decides without
fear or favour as indeed every judge must.
The letter points out that there were whispers going around for
quite some time that Justice Kureshi would be
sidelined because many of his judgements did not find favour with the
present dispensation. ”The sudden transfer of a senior judge, otherwise in line
for appointment as acting chief justice
of our court to puisne judge at number 5 in seniority in another court, sends
an absolutely wrong signal, affects morale of independent judges and does great
disservice to the institution”, the letter said.
It reiterated that in the past, the country has witnessed attempts
by an assertive Executive to subvert and overwhelm the judiciary as it was the
only institution which could rein in their misuse of power. ”An individual
judge wages a lonely battle at great sacrifice and risk. If at times like
these, the institution does not stand behind a judge as his or her pillar of
strength and lend support, it would be failing in it’s constitutional duty at a
crucial moment in our country’s history”, it stated.
The GHCAA president who along with his office bearers called on Chief
Justice Gogoi and had more than an hour’s meeting, refused to divulge the details, but said
that their decision to postpone their strike should be indicative enough. ”The
meeting was constructive”, he added.
Lawyers, across the board, have nothing but praise for Justice
Kureshi. ”Even as a lawyer, soft spoken Justice Kureshi’ s integrity was above board.
He is a rock solid judicial person. It has never mattered to him who a person
is, whether you are the junior-
most or the senior-most. He is a judge of meticulous credentials,
unimpeachable integrity and unassailable grace”, is how veteran legal luminary
Krishnakant Vakharia describes him. Another legal veteran, Sudhir Nanavaty too had nothing
but praise for him.
Senior advocate and former president of the Supreme Court Bar association Dushyant Dave termed the transfer of justice
Kureshi as the last straw on the camel’s back and voiced concern whether the judiciary could recover from this
move to assert its strong independence and impartiality, at least in Gujarat. ”one
really wishes that the Collegium, especially of the extraordinary caliber as at
present, would venture to cross-check the input or materials that concerned
authorities may have placed before the collegium from independent sources, especially
members of the Bar and former Supreme Court judges who came from Gujarat high
court”, he stated .
Oza said that Justice Kureshi was being penalized by the present
government for his judicial
pronouncements. These pertained to the lokayukta case in which he had ruled
against the Narendra Modi- led Gujarat government by upholding the decision of
the governor in appointing retired Gujarat High Court judge R.A.Mehta to the
post and for his decision to send Amit
Shah, now BJP president, to judicial custody in the Sohrabuddin alleged fake encounter case. ”the lokayukta order of the Gujarat High Court was
subsequently upheld by the Supreme Court”, he points out. Numerous other
lawyers echo this line of thought.
On his part, Justice Kureshi remains unperturbed. He has shunned
all media efforts to seek out his views and dutifully joined his new charge in
Mumbai.
The highly respected judicial officer has a Gandhian legacy. His
grandfather, Abdul Kadir Bawazeer was a close friend and lifelong associate of
Mahatma Gandhi and came to India along
with him from south Africa. His father, Hamid Kureshi was born in the Sabarmati
Ashram and grew up playing in the lap of the Mahatma. He was a Gujarat High
Court advocate and was the head of the Sabarmati Ashram Preservation and Memorial
Trust. He passed away in 2016. In keeping with his last wishes, he was cremated
as he did not desire to waste space which would otherwise go in the ritual
burial.
With such an illustrious legacy, it is no wonder that Justice
Kureshi too has made a mark in his field.
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