Reflections

Hon’ble Mr Justice J.S. Varma

Judge, Supreme Court of India

The mere mention of Allahabad fills me with nostalgia. I left Allahabad long back in 1954 but the memory lane dates back to six years preceding it when I was a student in Ewing Christian College and Allahabad University. Those were the best years when I also made some of my best friends. My associations with the Allahabad High Court was never direct but merely vicarious. Somehow I have always felt drawn to it and perceived the existence of a hidden bond with it. This impels me to associate myself with the Post Centenary Silver Jubilee Celebrations of Allahabad High Court, which for long has been a premier High Court of our country.

I cannot help recalling how I missed being directly connected with the Bar and Bench of Allahabad High Court. Having joined the Bar by choice my natural preference was to join the Bar at Allahabad where I completed my education and had friends. However, my family circumstances could not provide the means for starting practice at Allahabad and I had to join the Bar at Satna in Madhya Pradesh, which is equidistant from Allahabad and Jabalpur, only because my parents had a house in Satna. In due course, I shifted practice to Jabalpur and was later appointed a Judge in the Madhya Pradesh High Court. On becoming Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh I became vulnerable to transfer under the transfer policy and I naturally indicated my preference for Allahabad. For sometime I cherished the fond hope of being in Allahabad High Court then. However, I was transferred instead to the Rajasthan High Court. Soon after I took over in Rajasthan, an attempt was made to persuade me to go as Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court but I then declined in keeping with the dignity of the office. This is how by a quirk of fate I missed being in the Bar or on the Bench of Allahabd High Court. It is also a curious coincidence that Justice Bishambhar Dayal was the Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court when I became a Judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court and Justice R.S. Pathak was the Chief Justice of India when I was appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court, both whom were formerly Judges of Allahabad High Court. I hope I can with some justification claim quasi membership of the Allahabad High Court.

There are many lawyers and Judges of the Allahabad High Court whom I have known for long. I have known Justice K.N. Singh since I joined the Bar. Justice N.D. Ojha was my successor as Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh. They along with Justice R.M. Sahai are now my colleagues in Supreme Court. Justice K.C. Agrawal and Justice A.N. Varma were my contemporaries in the Allahabad University and incidentally Justice K.C. Agrawal has succeeded me as Chief Justice of Rajasthan.

The galaxy of eminent men who belong to the Allahabad High Court and have contributed to its pre-eminent position in the judicial field should ever remain the inspiration and beacon light for its lawyers and Judges whose obligation it is to preserve the rich heritage. Lawyers like Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru. Dr. K.N. Katju, Shri Kanhaiya Lal Misra, Shri Gopal Swarup Pathak and Shri Jagdish Swarup and Judges like Sir Shah Mohammad Sulaiman and Mahmood would be the pride of any legal institution anywhere in the world and they belonged to the Allahabad High Court. The present generation must remain cognizant of the rich heritage and strive to retain primacy of the institution ensuring that it passes on the bright torch to the future generation. These celebrations will have served a useful purpose it they rekindle the true spirit of the legal profession in drawing sustenance from the hoary past and help to enthuse and inspire the future generations to keep the torch burning brightly. It is, in all humility, in this spirit I join as one who was inspired by the legal luminaries of the profession in the Allahabad High Court whom I had the benefit of seeing and hearing only from a distance as a Student at Allahabd. I consider myself indebted to the Institution in this manner.