One of the most respectable names in the Indian judiciary, Hon’ble Justice Mukul Mudgal, Retired Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court, started his career as an advocate at the Supreme Court of India and the Delhi High Court in 1973. He became a Judge of the Delhi High Court in March, 1998 and on to the become Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court in December, 2009. Justice Mudgal was in news in recent years for heading the Mudgal Committee that conducted an independent inquiry into the allegation of corruption, betting and spot fixing in 2013 chapter of the Indian Premier League. In this special interview with Lex Witness, Justice Mudgal talks about his life, his practice at the Supreme Court and his stint as a judge and chief justice besides pointing out the essential ingredients of a successful lawyer.
I was born in Delhi on the 4th of January in 1949. My parents were renowned musicians and the founders of Gandharva Mahavidyalaya which is now a more than 75 year-old institution. Everybody in my family is a musician or a performing artist. I am the only person in my family who is away from the field of music. It is not that I don’t love music. I love music and listen to music. But I am not a musician like my other family members.
My parents educated me at Modern School Barakhamba Road, Delhi, which was a great experience. The school had a wonderful atmosphere of not only academics but also of sports and extracurricular activities. So, apart from my family, my school had a major influence on my life. It has shaped my character and has been responsible, apart from my family values, for my achievements in life. In my school, there was a great atmosphere of sports, which made me greatly interested in sports. I played a lot of sports, especially cricket, football and swimming. So, I played water polo in school and was in the School team and then I joined Hindu College in Delhi University and did Chemistry Honours. In college also I played water polo and represented the College and Delhi University team in water polo. In school, I was also part of the school orchestra too.
After my graduation in Chemistry, I realized that the science was not my calling, particularly in the archaic way the science was taught, especially the practical side of it. I had yearning for doing something for the underdog, so I joined the faculty of law in Delhi University. I completed my graduation and joined the renowned constitutional lawyer Late Dr YS Chitale as his junior. I was his junior for five years and did some path breaking cases with him, such as the Sunil Batra case, where along with him I was Amicus Curiae. We were also Amicus Curiae in Bachan Singh case where Dr Chitale was the lead lawyer and the rarest of rare doctrine was founded on the basis of the written submission given by him.
It is very interesting and I would like to tell you that when the case was going on before the Constitution Bench of five judges, except Justice Bhagwati, the other four judges were not in our favour. We had challenged the death penalty’s validity. My senior Dr Chitale told me that since except Justice Bhagwati no other judge is in our favour, please go through all the cases where the Supreme Court has commuted death sentences to life imprisonment and take out the reasoning in two or three lines. I did that for whatever cases were reported for reduction of death sentence by the Supreme Court, and frankly speaking, the rarest of rarest doctrine is nothing but based upon what written submissions we made.
Then, I was the Secretary of the Supreme Court Legal Aid Committee and the Treasurer alternating for nine years. The Legal Aid Committee of the Supreme Court at that time was a very vibrant body and I am proud to say that our panel was far more distinguished than the central government panel at that time. The lawyers did it voluntarily and the quality of the legal aid was outstanding. The persons who rendered legal aid were many, such as Dr. Chitale, Gopal Subramanium, Raju Ramchandran, Mr Soli Sorabjee, Mr Nariman, Mr Ashok Desai, MrVenugopal – any senior, whenever asked, they always took up legal aid cases. But you had to have the stature and accomplishments to be able to be asked for taking up legal aid cases. I think it would be a good practice if the secretary of the legal aid committee is a practicing lawyer. Now that practice has been abolished. There may be good reasons for it, but I wouldn’t know.
My first impression was that whatever you learnt in college in the law course really meant nothing when you entered court. You really learnt the practice of law only by going to court and learning there. Learning when to keep quiet is a very, very important training for Supreme Court lawyers. Interruptions can annoy judges. It is the final court and there is no appeal.
And the art of interruption is a very specialized art and it doesn’t come without experience. You can interrupt, but in a very subtle and pointed manner and then sit down. Normally, I wouldn’t permit any interruptions in my court, nor any loud talks or any fights among the lawyers. And I was extraordinary punctual. While I was in school, I wasn’t punctual and my late coming led to deduction of points for my house for the Discipline shield. My House Master slapped me for my late coming and that set me up on the right track. While I didn’t like that House Master, I am immensely grateful to him for his punishment which made me punctual.
So, the practice of law you only learnt, when you are actually in the field. We now have national law schools which are imparting quality, specialized training, but nothing can prepare for the actual court work. If you have to get into litigation practice, you have to be in the field, you have to run around, you have to be pushed around, you have to be shouted at by judges, you have to learn to deal with the rough times. And you have to learn to lose gracefully and take defeats in your strides. My first ten cases in the Supreme Court were SLPs which I filed as an Advocate-on record and they were all dismissed. And the 11th one which I won, I was the caveator Respondent and I was not called upon. This is the experience from which you learn. You know that in the Supreme Court most of your cases are not going to be successful. But you establish your reputation when you tell your client, look chances are very minimal, if you still want to go on, I will try my best. But a good lawyer with good reputation will never say, no hundred per cent stay ho jayega. That is wrong and a short-term gain and will never get you a good reputation.
Challenges are financial. At least in my time, very few seniors paid their juniors. But my senior was an exception. If you want to practice law, unless you have family support or family connection, when you are starting, it is difficult. In my case, I was the first and the last generation lawyer in my family. I have only a son and he is not a lawyer. He is a rock musician. So, you have to be patient in this profession. You will not get money in the beginning. And if you are used to getting a monthly salary in a law firm, it is difficult to come out on your own once you get used to a monthly salary.
The work schedule is very tight. In Supreme Court practice, Saturday and Sundays are gone because of Monday admissions. Therefore, one has to learn to adjust your life to it. Friday evening should be off. Saturday, afternoon onwards should be off. On Sundays, a busy Supreme Court lawyer cannot help but working, if he has work. So, you have to tailor your life accordingly, and take your vacations very seriously. Breaks are necessary.
In 1998 I was appointed as the Judge of the Delhi High Court and really had the opportunity to redress injustice. I always had the passion for underdogs and tried to, within the four corners of law, uphold the rights of the underdog, the weak, vulnerable sections, the oppressed, those who are protected under the Constitution but never got the protection of the Constitution. There were many judgements delivered by me in Delhi High Court and I don’t remember all of them. Some of them I would remember like the Uphar Tragedy where I along with Justice S.K. Mahajan awarded 20 crores damages which was later reduced by the Supreme Court. While I have never been bothered about what happened to my judgements, this is the one judgement of the Supreme Court I really feel sad about. But it is the final court and the judgement is final and one has to accept it.
Another judgement I remember giving was the one on version recordings. One party cassette manufacturer complained of infringement by another cassette maker. By some loopholes under the Copyright Act, you could pay some four or five hundred rupees as royalty to the original owner and make copies. The second cassette maker did to the first cassette maker what the first Cassette maker did to others, and the first cassette maker complained of it. So, I held that this was the height of the pot calling the kettle black, and held that the initial action of copying was not very moral and legal and that it had no right moral or legal.
A: It had a great influence on me. As I have seen that my fellow judges who are fond of any form of fine arts are better human beings, kinder human beings and are far more humane judges. Look, a Supreme Court or a High Court judge, as Justice Krishna Iyer observed, must weep at injustice and must do something about it, you can’t fold your hands. One thing I detested among some of the judges, both as a practicing lawyer and as a fellow colleague, is judges saying go and make a representation to the government. That is only a way to duck deciding the issue because in representations to government, I would say one in ten thousand, may succeed. This is judges ducking the issues and trying to avoid deciding all. There are specialized techniques, devised by some judges, fortunately very few in numbers, not wanting to write a judgement.
We hear so much about judges taking vacations, but the people don’t realize how much stress a judge is under when he works. So, a judge who works, who wants to complete his works certainly needs a vacation. And our work does not stop at 5. You go home and relax and then read the admissions which may take a couple of hours, depending upon the speed of a particular judge. Furthermore, judgments have to be dictated beyond Court hours. So, all these things must be kept in mind.
They were two. One, my school principal, Mr MN Kapur, and the other, a very famous musician, Pandit Kumar Gandharv. Their life and character impacted me, apart from my parents.
No, not at all. It is said that the remuneration is less. But the piece of mind it brings is immense. Secondly, after 4 pm, you are free to do what you like. I indulged in theatre, sports, music, all that I enjoyed doing, yet I don’t think I was found wanting in my work or in the disposal of the matters.
The view that you must sit till 9 or 10 pm is, it is each judge to his own. I would never do it. I think by 4.30 I was tired of my court room and my chamber and I liked to come home and have a different atmosphere. I followed this practice throughout. I didn’t stay too long in the confines of the court. It becomes really boring and stressful. I think relaxation for a judge is extremely essential. I would also say my experience shows that judges who are exposed to fine arts in any form, like poetry, literature, music, wild life, photography, any other occupation away from law, are better judges. For that matter, any person who is interested in fine arts makes a better human being.
At that time, the Supreme Court practice was not very remunerative, because you got a fixed sum for a matter based on per hearing. But now I am told, sky is the limit. But I don’t grudge lawyers their fees. Some judges would say so and so is making so much money. But the answer is you should not have taken up judiciary and should have been in the field. Today the financial returns are very high. Also, the juniors’ expectations are much higher. At our time, a junior joined knowing that he would not get much in the beginning. Today, law seems to appear to be looking lucrative to everybody. And quality colleges have opened up. Previously, many people went for law as the last option in Delhi University. I remember my Mom telling me not to join law. But it is not so any longer. The cream have started going for law.
Financially yes. But the rush to get rich quick should be eschewed. Because then you might have to cut corners. I am not saying all successful people cut corners. No, there are many outstanding lawyers who cherish values. But, you feel very disappointed when you are dreaming of a superb practice, big house and the best car right in the beginning. It does not come easily. And after some time, they don’t exude charm also. I would advise these young lawyers who would think of BMWs and Audis that don’t concentrate on cars. This would come later. Work hard. The essence of the Supreme Court practice is to listen to the judge. You have to study the judge, whether he is conservative, or liberal. In fact, observe judges very carefully.
I would say that you have to work hard. And the most important, in the SC practice you should listen to the judge. You must know about the judge, if he is conservative or a liberal. You have to study the judge. Suppose your case is at no 40, and there is no other case, sit in the court, observe the judge. If the judge cracks a joke, laugh at it. Start making eye contact. It makes a difference. It is all psychology and melodrama also. Observe the judge, find out what his likes and dislikes are. I remember in Justice Sabyasachi Mukherji’s court if a lawyer ever said ‘Your Lordship, please bear with me’, he would become very angry. So, one must find out all this. A lawyer above all has to be extremely observant, apart from having a good memory. And never annoy a judge, even he says something stupid. Say that ‘Your Lordship, you are absolutely right, but can I point out something?’ Never say a judge you are wrong. If you say this you may not succeed.
It is dedication, drive, hard work and drive. In any field, luck matters. But hard work is essential, and patience too.
Oh Yes! Many of them are extremely bright and in spite of the temptations, they do fulfill their work gladly. Hope is always there because the youth power is fantastic
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