One Should Not Think About Future Prospects For Even A Second After Taking Oath As A Judge: Justice Abhay Oka

While speaking at a felicitation and retirement ceremony organised for him by the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa, former Supreme Court judge Justice Abhay Oka has stated that one should not think about their future prospects for even a second after taking oath as a judge.

"Once you take the oath of a judge, one should not think of the future prospects even for a single second. The moment you start thinking like this, you will not be able to work as per your oath," he said.

He further added that a judge should not bother about what people, such as politicians and critics, have to say about their judgements, and only think whether their judgements fall within the framework of the Constitution.

"Never think about the implications of your judgments. Only think if the judgment that you are pronouncing is within the four frames of the Constitution. Do not think about what politicians, critics etc will say about your judgment. Also, it is not always that your judgment against a politician is the best judgment. Sometimes, your judgment can be in favour of politicians, if it sits within the four frames of the Constitution. Never be bothered about what people will say about you and your judgment," he added.

Reflecting on his journey, he said that when he began advocacy on June 28, 1983, he never dreamt of becoming a Supreme Court judge or even of a High Court.

"I got the opportunity to work throughout my tenure in the Supreme Court. I am of the opinion that as judge, whatever you work, is the purest work, which you cannot do anywhere else," he said.

He reflected on how the then Prime Minister had offered CJI-ship to then Justice Mookerjee, who did not even think for a second before saying he would resign if the senior-most judge of the SC was not made CJI. "We need to speak about such judges," he said.

In speaking about Justice HR Khanna, who gave the minority judgment in the ADM Jabalpur case, Justice Oka noted that in his book, Justice Khanna had written that he had been to Haridwar along with his wife and told her day before pronouncing judgment, that he would not become the CJI of the nation- which then happened.

"All this, teaches us, that judges should only give judgments on the point of law, merits and not focus on anything else," Justice Oka said.

While concluding, Justice Oka focused on the statistics of pending cases in Maharashtra and before the Supreme Court.

"There are nearly 56 lakh trials pending in courts across lower courts in Maharashtra. Pune alone has 7.8 lakh pending cases. Bombay HC has nearly 6.64 lakh cases pending and around 50 per cent of them are pending for more than 5 years old. In SC a total of 84,872 cases are pending," he stated.

Justice Oka noted that in 2002, the SC had said that for every 10 lakh citizens, there needed to be 50 judges, but now the number is 22.

"I firmly believe that lawyers should come together and tell the Governments to ensure that the judge to population ratio is made back to 50, otherwise, people will keep criticising the judiciary alone," he stated.

He noted that while everyone is saying the Bombay High Court is a premier institution, no one is speaking about why the HC till date has not worked with the full strength of 92 judges as sanctioned. 

"The appointment of judges must be streamlined by the Supreme Court, else the pendency of cases would further pile up," he concluded.