Public Perception Of Courts On Vacation Like Schools Not Correct: High Court Judge

The public perception of courts going on vacation like schools is not correct and an appropriate machinery must be engaged to project their hard work for an "image change", said Delhi High Court Judge Justice Jayant Nath who demitted office today.

The judge, speaking at his farewell reference organised by the high court, said that overburdening of courts with long pending cases was a known fact but the reasons for delay were not attributable to the courts themselves.

The pendency is there in spite of "huge efforts" by courts and lawyers, he said.

"It is a known fact that courts are overburdened with long pending cases. Unfortunately, the perception of a common man is to blame the court for delay in disposal of cases. Much is said about the courts going on vacations, comparing it with school vacations. I can say with full conviction that this public image is not correct," said the judge.

"The reasons for delay are many but are not really attributable to the courts. All I can say is, the court needs to take some steps to project this hard and good work that is being put in place by engaging an appropriate machinery. I need not say further on this, but I feel some image change would be useful," he added.

In his farewell speech, Justice Nath advised lawyers to "be sincere" to their briefs and clients, and reminded that there was "no shortcut to success".

The judge said that the Delhi High Court was a "cosmopolitan court" where success came from merit.

"It doesn't matter from which part of the country you come from, which religion you follow, success in this court comes from merit, not from your background," he said.

Chief Justice D N Patel said that Justice Nath is a distinguished judge who will be remembered for his eminence and excellence.

Born on November 10, 1959, Justice Nath was appointed as additional judge of the high court in April 2013 and became a permanent judge on March 18, 2015.

Recently, Justice Nath had restrained various generic pharmaceutical companies from manufacturing or selling Valsartan and Sacubitril tablets, a combination to treat cardiovascular diseases, as it may amount to infringement of patent of pharma major Novartis AG.

In May, he had ruled that the Delhi government has no power to indefinitely postpone the collection of annual charges and development fees by private unaided schools as it would unreasonably restrict their functioning.

In January 2018, the judge had upheld an international arbitral award passed in the favour of Daiichi Sankyo, which paved the way for its enforcement against the Singh brothers who had sold their shares in Ranbaxy to Daiichi in 2008 for Rs 9,576.1 crore.

Before his elevation to the bench, Justice Nath was designated as Senior Advocate by the high court in May 2006.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)