CJI to judges: Live like hermits, work like horses

Chief Justice of India SH Kapadia on Tuesday said judges have to live like hermits and work like horses, and there should be no fear or favour in their minds while deciding cases heard by them. HT reports.

Chief Justice of India SH Kapadia on Tuesday said judges have to live like hermits and work like horses, and there should be no fear or favour in their minds while deciding cases heard by them.

HT Image

"A judge should live like a hermit and work like a horse. By hermit, I do not mean to say a sadhu. A judge has to live within the salary he gets, within his means," Justice Kapadia, said at the convocation function of the Indian Law Institute.

"We (judges) cannot change the world. We cannot answer to every response, every reaction which comes. Do your duty, answer your conscience and you will be a good judge. Without fear or favour, you will be deciding matters," the CJI said.

Justice Kapadia expressed concern at the increasing number of young lawyers not preferring to join the judiciary and asked them to enter the profession to serve the country.

"Today the problem is that many of the young people would like to go for non-litigation matters. They prefer to sit in cozy air-conditioned chambers. I am not blaming them…They prefer to draft documents. Economic circumstances are such so I am not blaming anyone. But I want younger people to join the judiciary so that they can serve the country and the people," the CJI said.

Justice Kapadia also praised the younger generation for their objective view in dealing with their jobs.

"I am putting this in public domain today. In most complicated cases, very eminent senior lawyers are appearing in the Supreme Court but at the end of the day we find that it is the material by the young junior lawyers who are working very hard," the CJI said.

Law minister Salman Khurshid, Supreme Court judges, Justice Altamas Kabir and Justice Swatantar Kumar were also present on the stage, along with the CJI.