Advocates Refusing Elevation on Salary Grounds Must Think About Their Duty Towards Nation: Justice Datta

An advocate should not refuse the opportunity to be elevated as a judge merely on the ground that the pay is not good, said Justice Dipankar Datta of the Supreme Court of India at a ceremony organised by the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa.

While doing so, the advocates must also consider their duty towards the nation, the judge added.

“I wish to touch upon the disinclination of advocates not respecting the call of the Chief Justice of India to switch sides. Some may have genuine difficulties… but those who decline on economic considerations must be impressed upon to consider the duty they owe to the people of the nation,” the Supreme Court judge said.

After hearing the speakers who preceded him at the ceremony, Justice Datta said, “It is difficult to keep emotions away. I was wondering if I have actually done so much. I sincerely wish that I could have continued as the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court.”

Justice Datta also recalled some instances where he believed he could have worked harder as the Chief Justice, one of them being the land at the Bandra Kurla Complex for the High Court.

On the issue of a new bench at Kolhapur, the judge said the new bench would cater to only six districts, which would be carved out of the principal seat at Bombay, leaving it with only seven districts. “This would give rise to Aurangabad and Nagpur staking a claim to be the principal seat… and thus I thought that this issue required consideration and deliberation,” Justice Datta added.

Referring to the PIL that he heard against boards with pictures of political leaders, the judge said they were eyesores, but he felt helpless when he found that on the compound wall of the Chief Justice’s bungalow, a board was hung up.

“I said if this is the position, then it is better that the matter takes its own course and somebody else deals with the issue otherwise people would say he is becoming a judge in his own cause,” the judge said in a lighter vein.

Justice Abhay Oka, who is also serving as a judge of the Supreme Court of India, was also present at the event as the chief guest. The felicitation ceremony was organised by the Bar Council as Justice Datta was not given a farewell owing to his elevation notification on December 11, 2022 and him taking oath as the Supreme Court judge the next day.