My legal journey started from Nagpur: CJI Lalit
   Date :04-Sep-2022

CJI Lalit 
 
 
Staff Reporter
Stating that his legal journey actually started from Nagpur, Justice Uday Umesh Lalit, the 49th Chief Justice of India (CJI), on Saturday, narrated his first experience of a court room at Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court where his father was posted as a Judge in the 1970s.
CJI Lalit was speaking in response to his felicitation at a programme organised by High Court Bar Association (HCBA), Nagpur as part of its centenary year celebrations at Dr Vasantrao Deshpande hall.
In his 13 minutes speech, CJI Lalit elaborated his life experiences and imparted lessons to budding lawyers about professionalism and judgeship. He was overwhelmed while recalling a poem of Rudyard Kipling -- “Life is a journey which you undertake. It is not what you have covered but it is how you cover that.” The CJI became emotional while reciting the poem. CJI Lalit said that his father was working as Judge at High Court in Nagpur in the 70s. He had not attended his swearing-in and not even attended his court. He went to see his father as Judge at the court room in Nagpur when news started spreading that perhaps after January 1976 his father won’t be the judge of the High Court. He recalled the fond memories of those days and underlined that it was his first brush with the legal profession.
The CJI started his speech by recalling programmes attended with Justice V S Sirpurkar as a senior counsel. “I was not a member of HCBA, Nagpur at any juncture but I have always been associated with Nagpur and its bar. I appeared in court on a number of occasions,” he said.
Recalling the legal battles fought with lawyers in Nagpur, the CJI said, “That was all part of one single progression in life, and at every level there have been so many associates.” On importance of each person he met in life, the
CJI said, “Every person is like a book. If you read that person it will be a great learning opportunity. He or she tells you what exactly matters in life and to what extent that person can be a guiding light in the journey towards what life constitutes.” Expressing gratitude towards his family’s legal tradition, the CJI said, “I have been very fortunate that I come from a family of lawyers. My grandfather started practice in 1920 in District Court in Solapur. It is 102 years of unbroken chain.”
The CJI assured the audience that he would do everything to the best of his ability, knowledge and wisdom.
Justice Bhushan Gavai, Judge, Supreme Court of India, was the chief guest of the programme while Justice Dipankar Datta, Chief Justice of Bombay High Court; Justice Vikas Sirpurkar, ex-Judge, Supreme Court of India were guests of honour. Justice Prasanna Varale, Judge, Bombay High Court; Justice Sunil Shukre, Judge, Bombay High Court; Justice Atul Chandurkar, Judge, Bombay High Court, Bhushan Dharmadhikari, ex-Chief Justice, Bombay High Court; CJI Lalit’s wife Amita Lalit, Adv Atul Pande, President of HCBA, Nagpur and Adv Amol Jaltare, Secretary of HCBA, Nagpur also were present on the dais. While speaking on the occasion, Justice Gavai counted a number of measures taken by CJI Lalit to clear the pendency of the cases in the Supreme Court.
Justice Gavai said that 106 old matters pending for last 10 to 12 years were finally decided in four days.
Also, over 418 transfer petitions were decided in the last one week and miscellaneous matters about 1,233 have been decided a week, he added. “CJI Uday Umesh Lalit has prepared a roadmap in short period and it will be helpful for the future of the judiciary,” he said. He added that it was a moment of great pride to felicitate CJI Lalit whose out of the box thinking is the hallmark of his legal career.
“Though, CJI Lalit has got into a running train but he is turning it into a bullet train,” Justice Gavai said.
“Justice Lalit used to consult with his colleagues as to what should be done and I must say that he is a truly democratic leader,” Justice Gavai recalled.
Justice Gavai added that CJI Lalit was an example to show what a man who desires though at a short period can bring so many changes. This period of CJI Lalit though a short period will be a witness of the beginning of the new era of transparency in functioning of the Supreme Court and a new era of attention to old cases and reduction of pendency of matters in the apex court.
Addressing the function, Justice Sirpurkar, recalled fond memories of his association with CJI Lalit and his father.
Justice Datta also addressed the function. He said that CJI Lalit has the distinction of working at almost all High Courts in India. Adv Atul Pande made introductory remarks while Adv Amol Jaltare proposed a vote of thanks.