'AG KK Venugopal Is My Role Model, Will Appoint a Committee To Study the Demands Of SCBA': CJI UU Lalit

The CJ was speaking at the felicitation ceremony organised in his honour by the SCBA.

"I have been through almost every role that an advocate can, being in the Supreme Court. I came here purely as a student first, then as an outstation counsel, then as a junior who was unattached to anyone, then joined the advocates on records's office, then joined a senior's office, then practised like non-advocate on record, non-senior category, then became an advocate on record, then suspended my practice as advocate on record for a while in the hope that I might get designated, then finally designated. I have been through everything which possibly any advocate in the Supreme Court can go through. Except one, I was never a law officer", he continued.

"At times, people say that you have a distinct way of arguing. I must tell you the secret. The man behind that is none other than Mr KK Venugopal. You should see Mr Venugopal arguing a matter. The way he places the matter, absolutely calm, there are no emotions at any juncture. Just places the matter, facts, law with the same amount of ease, comfort, putting the court in complete comfortable zone. When I joined Parekh and company, there was a huge shipping matter and we had briefed a senior counsel. So in the conference, at some point, the senior was not happy with the preparation and the kind of pleadings which were placed on record, so he just flared up and started blasting all of us including the clients for the way they had conducted themselves and he went to the extent of saying that the proper place for you is actually in jail. When the conference was over, we were told that we want somebody else. With lot of reluctance, with lot of persuading the client to not indulge in that, but they were insisting, so we went to Mr KK Venugopal. All of which had enraged the earlier counsel was narrated to Mr Venugopal and the expression was, and I don't forget that because that is something which is ingrained in my mind, that all that Mr Venugopal said was 'Aiaiyo'...That is the cool temperament which I saw and he has always been a role model," reminisced the CJI.

"A lot of things have been said about listing etc. Let me clarify, it is true that we have taken this new style of listing, so there are naturally bound to be some teething problems. Whatever has been reported is not the correct state of affairs (newspaper report about rift between the judges on the new listing system). We all judges are completely on the same page. In fact as a matter of fact what Mr Venugopal told us that till yesterday we could dispose of more than 5000 matters, 5200 to be precise. As against filing which was just about 1135. So that is all possible because of the efforts put in by my brother and sister judges and all of you, the members of the bar. It is true that as the result of this change over, there have been certain occasions, certain instances where perhaps the matter got listed at the 11th hour with the shortest possible notice that created tremendous amount of workload, additional workload for the judges, for the advocates and I am really indebted to all my brother and sister judges for discharging every thing with a smiling face. That is why we have been able to dispose off something like 5200 matters as against 1135 filing. Which means we have been able to reduce the arrears by atleast about 4000 number. Which is a good beginning. Of course these are all matters which are matters of moment because a lot many matters were pending, they had become more or less infructuous so they had to be disposed off so we got them listed and the results are before you", clarified the CJI.

"I must respond to what Mr Pradeep Rai (vice president SCBA) said. I don't know where he gets this information from (Mr. Rai had remarked in a lighter vein that it is not believable that Justice Lalit had not consulted his wife before accepting judgeship at the SC). It had always been my dream that if one day, I can be the judge of this court, nothing like that. My wife was always aware of that, she knew everything that was at the back of mind, so there was no necessity or need to consult her when the actual call came. And that is the reason why I said in one of the speeches that when Justice Lodha offered me, I did not even consult my wife- it was in that background, it was not as if...No husband can ever do such a thing without consulting the wife", replied the CJ in good humour.

As regards the Demands of the bar as raised by Senior Advocate Vikas Singh, President, SCBA, the CJI said, "The demands are ever growing, naturally because it is the vibrant way in which the bar...it is a dynamic concept every time...whatever library I saw in 70s-80s cannot be sufficient for today's needs and today's demand. The number has increased. So it is true that these concepts will certainly require more and more space. I can't promise anything; the only promise I can give is that very well I can appoint committees. So let the committees go into that, they will decide and then thereafter the decisions will be taken".

"All in all it is a great privilege to be here before you. I consider myself lucky that I was a member of this bar Association. This profession, this bar Association has taught me everything-the conduct of matters, the way seniors used to argue, I would run from court to court, just watch the seniors, how they function, how they argue. It has always been a great experience, great learning experience and that has been given to me on a platter by the Supreme Court bar Association and the institution which is the Supreme Court. It is a privilege to be a lawyer, this legal profession has given me everything, whatever I am today is only because of this legal profession. I cannot consider myself to be anything other than this profession and what it means to me. Being a member was a matter of privilege to me and it is the same privilege with which I stand here today before you. Maybe in two months time when I Demit office, that will be the final icing on the cake", CJ Lalit signed off.