Chief Justice Suggests Not Ceasing Judicial Work When A Bar Member Dies

Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud suggested that the practice of ceasing judicial work for the rest of the day may be done away with when any member of the Bar passes away.

The Chief Justice was speaking at the bicentennial celebrations of the Bar Library at Calcutta High Court.

"...I would request a re-think on the part of all of you. Should we be ceasing work because a member of the Bar has passed away. Of course, we respect our friends, our colleagues, and our seniors; sometimes, unfortunately, they are our peers who have passed away untimely. Do we need to affect the wider society at large?" the Chief Justice said.

"So much time is lost in courts. When I was appointed as the Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court, I realised that when references are conducted for deceased members of the Bar, the court would rise for the day after the reference was over. The Bar would insist that after the reference was over there would be no further judicial work," the Chief Justice said.

Sharing a snippet from his personal life, CJI Chandrachud said that when his father, Yeshwant Vishnu Chandrachud, who served as the 16th Chief Justice of India died, he suggested that the reference may be conducted around half an hour before the closing time of the court.

"When my father passed away I was a young judge at the Bombay High Court and the Bar came to the Chief Justice and said, 'Chief Justice, a distinguished former member of the bar who became Chief Justice of India has passed away and we would like the work to be closed at the end of the reference'. The Chief Justice wisely said, 'His son happens to be a member of our fraternity. Why don't you go over to the Chamber of my brother Dhananjay and ask what he would like to do.' I had a suggestion and said, 'Why don't you begin the reference half an hour before the closing time of the court. The reference would probably get over around the closing time of the court, at which time the Chief Justice may then say that the remaining part of the judicial work of the court would remain suspended, which means that the court went on for pretty much the whole day'," the Chief Justice said.

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