M A I N   N E W S

SPECIAL EDITORIAL
Appeal to the Supreme Court
By H.K. Dua

Once upon a time the Punjab and Haryana High Court enjoyed tremendous prestige in the eyes of the people, the Bar and the judiciary across the country. Like all courts, it was the last hope for an aggrieved citizen. The people received a shock on Monday morning when the news burst out of the High Court's portals that it was caught in the grip of a serious crisis which the brother Judges simply did not know how to handle.

Wrongly or rightly, as many as 25 Judges of the Punjab and Haryana High Court together decided to go on leave and stay away from work in protest against the attitude of the Chief Justice of the High Court towards them. Only Chief Justice B.K. Roy and one more Judge were seen in the court trying to dispense a little justice, while hundreds of people who had cared to knock at the door of the High Court stood out wondering what had really gone wrong with it.

The people did not know that the crisis in the High Court had been brewing for months and was known to its Chief Justice, Judges and the Bar. Plenty of news, sometimes spiced with gossip, went on circulating in the corridors among the lawyers and Chandigarh's chatterati, but no one was prepared to do anything to stop what was bound to come to a head one day. Broadly, the media also knew what was happening, but partly because of the fear of the Law of Contempt and partly because of deference to the court chose by and large to keep quiet, hoping that wiser counsel might ultimately come to prevail. Alas, that was not to be!

Normally, under the constitutional dispensation the country has chosen, a corrective to an unseemly occurrence that may have taken place in the judiciary is expected to come from the judiciary itself. It is clear the Punjab and Haryana High Court is too sharply divided to be able to find a remedy for what is afflicting it. The cure has to come from the Supreme Court which alone has the authority and moral prestige to set things right.

A few weeks ago, 21 aggrieved Judges of the High Court had approached the Chief Justice of India who, in turn, had deputed two senior Judges — Mr Justice R.C. Lahoti and Mr Justice Ashok Bhan — to visit Chandigarh to sort out the growing tensions among the Judges. Apparently, more was needed to be done. On Monday night the informal effort made by the incoming Chief Justice, Mr Justice Rajendra Babu, succeeded in persuading the dissenting Judges to rejoin duty.

The Judges were back to work next morning but the crisis has not ended. The Chief Justice of India and the Supreme Court owe it to the judiciary and the people who still have faith in the kachehri to do more to set things right in the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

The Tribune appeals to the Supreme Court to help the High Court retrieve its lost prestige. It is still not late.