In Tribute Speech, CJI DY Chandrachud Reveals How Former CJI AM Ahmadi Encouraged Him To Accept Judgeship

From citing important judgements to underscoring the changes brought to the Supreme Court, the Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud on Thursday (May 11) gave an  address, paying homage to the former Chief Justice of India Aziz Mushabber Ahmadi, who passed away on March 2, 2023. CJI Chandrachud was speaking at the full court reference organized on May 11 to honour former CJI Ahmadi.

Terming the former CJI as a “one of the finest minds and true friend of legal fraternity”, CJI Chandrachud shed light on Justice Ahmadi’s eminent career.  

Speaking about how the Justice Ahmadi transformed the Supreme Court functioning with the proper utilisation of technology, the CJI said,

“He was a great administrator, case pendency dipped to an all-time low with him as the chief Justice of India. The total use of computers in courts was hardly 3% of its optimum capacity, the use of computers was largely limited to a word processor. When he became the CJI, he transformed the way supreme court used technology and introduced computerised cause lists and made formal and inexpensive use of computers in routine functions of the law”.

The CJI also said that Justice Ahmadi had a method of categorisation and classification of cases; something he picked up and formulated during his term as a judge of the district judiciary.   “After this, he got the docket pendency analysed and took the challenge head on…..He often had a slogan, don't get scared by numbers.” Because of this record of lower pendency rate, Justice Ahmadi was even called the "case cracker", CJI Chandrachud said.

The former CJI also introduced the concept of judicial clerkship at the Supreme Court, CJI Chandrachud said.

“He (Justice Ahmadi) formally introduced the system of judicial clerkship at the Supreme Court by employing a then fresh graduate, Arun Kumar (now a professor of law) as the judicial law clerk. Ahmadi often relied on the judicial law clerks to assist him in research and was open to their ideas and opinion. His dedication and devotion to law coupled with the aim of imparting quality education and encouraging young law students did not let him stop after his retirement. He accepted the position of Chancellorship at the Aligarh Muslim University.”

Further, Justice Ahmadi was instrumental in seeing to it that the young and junior members of the Bar have access to all the judgements. Digitisation of judgments and making them available in floppies and disks at a reasonable cost was instrumental in access to justice, the CJI said.

Making judgments available digitally was transformative not only for the bar but also for other functionaries that aid in access to justice. “He had said that the idea was to have juniors equipped with a good library. This added in increasing access to justice”.

Recalling from a personal experience, CJI Chandrachud also said how he had sought Justice Ahmadi on before taking up judgeship.

“When I was offered judgeship, I had the opportunity to seek the advice of Justice Ahmadi. He was one the arbitrators of a three-member arbitral tribunal where I was representing the RBI in a dispute with a Canadian company. On the last day, in Ottawa, I sought an appointment with Justice Ahmadi for a personal matter. With a heart ready to help, he readily gave me sage words of wisdom. As I was still contemplating on taking up judgeship, I asked him whether it was all worth it after everything. Without a moment of hesitation, Justice Ahmadi said – “Absolutely worth it! I have not regretted a moment”. He said to me, “Do not look back, for I have never looked back”. Justice Ahmadi has influenced multiple generations of lawyers and judges including me with his exceptional life. Through his illustrious career, Justice Ahmadi was known for his tireless work ethic, sharp intellect, and unwavering fidelity to the highest constitutional ideals.”

During Justice Ahmadi’s term at the Supreme Court, he was part of 811 judgements of which he authored 232 of them, the CJI pointed out. Justice Ahmadi advanced the cause of secularism, substantives rights and equality, apart from others.

“Justice Ahmadi served this institution with consummate dedication and a fierce devotion to fairness, justice and equity for 9 long years.”

Some of Justice Ahmadi’s notable judgements include SR Bommai, L Chandrakumar, Indira Sawhney and Keshav Mahindra dealing with the Bhopal Gas Tragedy. “In SR Bommai, he wrote a separate 37-page judgement where he emphasised the importance of accommodation and tolerance to certain vulnerable social and linguistic groups and concluded that adequate provisions had been enshrined in the Constitution to keep derisive forces in check”, CJI said in his address.

In L Chandrakumar, writing for the Bench, he highlighted the power of judicial review vested in High Courts and Supreme Court enabling legislative action to be subjected to the scrutiny of legislative courts, was an integral and essential feature of the Constitution, constituting a part of the basic structure.

In Allaudin vs State of Bihar, the bench which comprised of Justice Ahmadi laid down the procedure to be followed by Judges in matters of sentencing in terms of Section 235 (2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure. A rather powerful portion of the judgement reads as follow:

“When the Court is called upon to choose between the convict's cry 'I want to live' and the prosecutor's demand 'he deserves to die', it goes without saying that the Court must show a high degree of concern and sensitiveness in the choice of sentence.”

In CJI’s words, Justice Ahmadi was not the “one to shy away from dissent”. He had penned the dissenting judgement in the judgement pertaining to the Ayodhya land acquisition case.

Though a great jurist, Justice Ahmadi’s first preference wasn’t law. He ended up following his father's footsteps eventually, who was serving as a judge then. “He (Justice Ahmadi) often said he did not choose law, rather the law choose him”, CJI Chandrachud remarked.

During the formal function, Attorney General for India, R Venkataramani and Supreme Court Bar Association President, Vikas Singh also spoke about the legendary jurist. The AG said that Justice Ahmadi had played a significant role in establishing the Bhopal Memorial hospital which remains an important centre of medical care.

Justice Ahmadi is survived by Huzefa Ahmadi, Senior Advocate and Tasneem Ahmadi, Advocate.