A JUDGE OF MEN AND MATTERS
Monday, 10th December, 2007
A JUDGE OF MEN AND MATTERS:
Justice R.S.Pathak
Former Chief Justice of India and President of the Tribune Trust, Justice R.S Pathak passed away following a brief illness at a hospital in South Delhi. He was 82. He is survived by his wife Asha Pathak and three sons - Vivek Pathak, Jai Pathak and Anand Pathak. The cremation was done at the Lodhi Road crematorium. Justice Pathak had been admitted to the hospital following a hip dislocation. He suffered a massive heart attack also.
Justice Pathak, the second son of Gopal Swamp Pathak, former Vice-President of the country, was born in Bareilly. He began his legal career in Allahabad High Court as a lawyer and holds the unique distinction of being the youngest person ever to be appointed a judge. Subsequently, he was appointed Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh High Court and then became a judge of the Supreme Court before taking over as the Chief Justice of India in 1986. Before he completed his tenure as the CJI, he was elected as a Judge of the International Court of Justice, The Hague. He also served as president of the ad hoc division of the International Court of Arbitration for Sport, Switzerland, for many years.
In a brilliant career spanning over 50 years, Justice Pathak rendered several landmark judgements and achieved many distinctions in India and abroad. Justice Pathak played a crucial role in running the Tribune Trust as a member initially, before taking over as its President in 2002. He was also the Chairman of the National Committee for the Promotion of Economic and Social Welfare besides being the President of the Centre for Research on Environment, Ecology and Development. He also had the distinction of being Member, Board of Advisers, Foundation for International Environment Law and Development, London, and the Chairman of the Nehru Trust for Indian Collections in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
He was elected Chairman of the World Congress on Law and Medicine in 1985 and was the Member of the International Panel of Chief Justices on Genetic Technology in Seoul in 1987. He remained the president of the Indian Law Institute from 1986 to 1989.
Justice Raghunandan Swarup Pathak was a jurist of exceptional international standing with a high reputation for integrity, independence and impartiality. Throughout his long and distinguished career as a judge-beginning as an Additional Judge of the Allahabad High Court in 1962 and rising to the peak as the Chief Justice of India in 1986- Justice Pathak left an indelible mark as a shining example of judicial rectitude worthy of emulation by his peers as well as those who were to follow him in the judiciary. At 37, he became a high court judge, the youngest ever. .In March 1972, he was appointed the Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court. His legal acumen, study of constitutional law and interpretation of the Constitution earned him not only much respect and admiration but also the appointment as the Chief Justice of India, eight years after his elevation as a Judge of the Supreme Court in 1978. It is a measure of the international recognition he enjoyed that less than three years after he assumed office as the Chief Justice of India, he was elected, in June 1989, to the International Court of Justice at The Hague.
His contribution as a judge of the world court, the principal judicial organ the United Nations, earned him kudos in many foreign capitals. As a judge of the Supreme Court and the Chief Justice of India, Justice Pathak delivered many judgments on a variety of subjects in a number of important cases, including the famous judge’s transfers’ case where he maintained that judges could not be transferred without their consent and that the approval of the Chief Justice was essential.
The other much-debated judgments were the cases relating to the release of Sant Harchand Singh Longowal and the Bhopal gas disaster. Justice Pathak headed the one-man judicial commission to enquire into the Iraqi oil scam, which led to the exit of former Foreign Minister K. Natwar Singh from the UPA Government.
Judges, by upbringing and training, are proficient in judging cases, but there are some who are also proficient in judging men and matters. R.S. Pathak was one of the few who had both accomplishments having acquired them from long years of experience on the Bench. When he became the Chief Justice of India he had a grand vision of the institution of which he was the head - that it should consist only of men and women of the highest integrity and competence.
He put integrity first. As the Chief Justice of India he used to visit high courts so that he could hear first hand from the local Bar and Bench about some possible candidate for elevation to the Supreme Court. On such visits he kept his "ear-to-the ground" (so to speak) making his own personal assessment: but keeping his views to himself. During one such visit to a particular state high court he saw and heard people speak highly of a relatively junior judge in Karnataka - only fourth in rank and seniority.
Pathak made a mental note of what he heard, and returning to Delhi recommended M.N. Venkatachaliah to be a judge of the apex court.
The decision proved a momentous one because in course of time the same judge ultimately assumed office as Chief Justice of India. At a party in Neeti Bagh in Delhi many years later Raghu Pathak told an assembly of lawyers gathered there - and he said this proudly - "It is I who gave you all Venkatachaliah". Though never himself boastful but always self-effacing, he only burst out with this sentiment because he loved the institution. He once told me that a judge in the highest court must always approach his task with dedication, honour and humility so that when he left the court on retirement he had the satisfaction of having added one more brick to the great edifice!
Justice Pathak’s grasp of the case and his imperturbable demeanour were impressive. Justice Beg was later transported as Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh and taken thereafter to the Supreme Court becoming the CJI. Pathak, though Beg’s senior, followed Beg as Chief Justice of Himachal and later (only much later) became a judge of the Supreme Court: a somewhat strange dispensation which continues to this day and perturbs many judges in the high courts.
But it has always been so. Appointments to the Supreme Court are not by way of seniority but by selection. Before 1993 the selection was by the Central Government (really the Law Minister) after consultation with the Chief Justice of India. After 1993 (due to a controversial j judgement of a Constitution Bench of the court) the selection has been made by the Chief Justice of India along with his senior colleagues after consultation with the Central Government (the judges’ decision being final).
It is only in India that judges of the highest court are selected by judges of the highest court: an anomaly which Lord Cooke of Thorndon (a judge in the House of Lords) amusingly emphasized in a speech delivered in Delhi with the cheeky title: "Where angels fear to tread…." R.S. Pathak always was keen to get the best judge appointed to the highest court. As CJI, he wrote a personal letter to the late Justice Bakhtavar Lentin, then Judge in the Bombay High Court, to join him in Delhi, but unfortunately for the Supreme Court, Lentin declined, since others who were his juniors in the all-India reckoning had been earlier elevated at the instance of the CJIs during the pre-Pathak era.
One endearing quality of the late G.S. Pathak, was that he recounted his stories with great relish, and when it happened to be (as it frequently was) an amusing one, he would first laugh a great deal himself, putting the listener in the right receptive mood! It was a unique but most pleasant experience listening to stories of great lawyers of the past.
R.S. was like his father in many ways. Both were men of the highest rectitude, both believed that the legal profession (which comprises both judges and lawyers) was a noble profession: those with soiled hands were best left out. As a judge and then as the Chief Justice, he was transparent and fair to all. Lawyers were proud to have, R.S.Pathak as their Chief Justice - a man always courteous, and polite but firm. Sitting at The Hague Pathak soon made a name for himself; the justices there liked him and benefited from his wisdom.
The Chief Justices who stood head and shoulders over the rest - leaders of the Court-were: Chief Justice S.M. Sikri, Chief Justice R.S.Pathak, Chief Justice M.N. Venkatachaliah and Chief Justice J.S. Verma. All incumbents of this i high office, present and future, would do well to i aspire to and reach the noble heights that these four dignitaries attained.
Justice R.S. Pathak - having lived a full life is no more. But he will remain alive in the hearts of all those who loved and respected him. May his noble soul rest in peace.
