A fearless arbiter of justice

DISGUSTED as I am by the invectives, jibes and mostly false accusations hurled at each other by leaders of the BJP, the Congress and even smaller parties, I venture to write about a judge who has made me proud of being an Indian.

Justice Patel’s address to judges and lawyers at his farewell function carried a message about duties, responsibilities and integrity.

Justice Gautam S Patel retired last week from the Bombay High Court. The farewell function was held in the Chief Justice’s court, with all judges present. The protocol followed on this occasion was not the usual one, where the retiring judge sits with the Chief Justice to hear a case and the litigants and lawyers present constitute the audience. For Justice Patel, the protocol was shunned. The courtroom was packed to capacity with all judges of the High Court in attendance. Lawyers, too, were present in large numbers.

Justice S Muralidhar got a grand send-off when he was peremptorily shifted from the Delhi High Court to the Punjab and Haryana High Court overnight in March 2020. Lawyers lined the staircases from the Chief Justice’s court to the ground floor to show a truly just and fearless judge that he was appreciated and that he would always be remembered with love and respect. Public servants loved and respected by their colleagues, staff members and the people at large are becoming a rarity. That is why we should celebrate the life and times of Justice Patel.

He was a true servant of the people. I first met him during a lecture by retired Supreme Court judge Sujata Manohar on the High Court premises. It’s an annual affair in commemoration of her late father (Justice KT Desai). Justice Patel was the Secretary of the Bar Association at that time, and in that capacity had taken on the task of welcoming the guests.

I learnt that he is the son of Shirish Patel, a well-known engineer and builder from Mumbai who is widely respected by members of my generation for his unfaltering concern for the wellbeing of the citizens of my city and his own. Only last year, Shirish had asked me to endorse a public appeal made by him to the local authorities to review their plan to redevelop the Bombay Development Department chawls in the heart of the city. He appealed for more open spaces for the residents, mainly the young who wanted playgrounds, another rarity today.

I was delighted when Gautam accepted his elevation to the Bench. Many successful lawyers prefer the lakhs of rupees they make in private practice to the public service of dispensing justice to litigants. He accepted the honour and the accompanying responsibility. He took the oath of office in 2013 and became an instant success with his unshakeable sense of fair play and compassion.

My daughter, Ana, who uncannily picks up stories of good deeds that benefit the poor and the defenceless, recounted a story she had heard in Goa. There was Poonam, a backward-class girl in a Goan village who was the only member of her community who was educated. She had appeared in a test for a seat in the Goa Medical College, but had missed her chance by a whisker. Two months later, the student who was the last to squeeze in was debarred for submitting false documents. The college decided to keep the seat vacant because of the lapse of time between the start of the semester and the debarment.

Poonam approached the High Court Bench in Goa. Justice Patel was on deputation to the Goa Bench to replace one of the judges there who had retired. She was lucky this time. Justice Patel ordered the college to admit the girl as she was next on the merit list and she was prepared to make up the lost time and not ask for concessions. Four or five years later, the Goan lawyer who had pleaded the girl’s case phoned Justice Patel in Mumbai to inform him that she had not only passed the MBBS exam but also topped the list of successful candidates! The judge’s goal of helping the poor was achieved.

Justice Patel left an indelible mark on the High Court Bench during his short tenure in Goa from August to October 2017. Litigants and lawyers alike, as well as the staff, spoke of him in glowing terms. I have heard these encomiums myself during one of my yearly visits to meet my brother and cousins in Goa.

What impressed the Goans was that the judge made no distinction between the powerful and the powerless, between the rich and the poor. He gave equal importance to every case placed before him. No case was ‘big’. Similarly, no case was ‘small’. Justice Patel was the only judge who suo motu put back on board a case in which he had already passed a judgment but later realised that he had made a mistake.

The most important matter he decided in Goa was the government notification of 2017 that transferred all environmental cases from the National Green Tribunal’s west zone at Pune to New Delhi. This was inconvenient for the lawyers and litigants, and Goans smelt a rat in this move. Justice Patel took up the matter suo motu and quashed the notification. It was the last line of his order nullifying the notification that touched the Goan heart: “Truly, this is a land worth fighting for.”

Justice Patel’s address to the judges and lawyers at his farewell function at the Bombay High Court was marked by humour — which the lawyers were accustomed to during the 11 years he graced the Bench — and a message about duties, responsibilities and integrity.

It is imperative for a developing country like ours, seeking to sit on the high table of the comity of nations, to have exemplary public servants manning the judiciary, the bureaucracy and the police. We must honour judges like Justice Patel, bureaucrats like Tejinder Khanna (Punjab) and police officers like Chaman Lal (Madhya Pradesh), who are admired by colleagues, staff members and, more importantly, by the public.