Judge needs to withstand pressures: Justice Ramana

Satya Prakash

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 17

In the eye of the storm over Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy’s allegations against him, Justice NV Ramana on Saturday said a judge needed to be fearless, withstand pressures and stand up against all obstacles.

“It is an important quality for a judge to withstand all pressures,” Justice Ramana said in an online condolence meeting to pay homage to former top court Judge AR Lakshmanan, who died on August 27.

“There are innumerable qualities that a person needs to live what can be called a good life: humility, patience, kindness, a strong work ethic and the enthusiasm to constantly learn and improve oneself. Most importantly, particularly for a judge, one must be steadfast in holding on to his principles and fearlessness in decisions,” he said.

In his letter to CJI Bobde, Reddy had alleged, “Justice Ramana has been influencing the sittings of the high court, including the roster of a few judges and instances of a few matters important to Telugu Desam have been allotted to a few judges.”

The contents of the letter were made public at a press conference addressed by the Principal Adviser to the AP Chief Minister last week.

Justice Ramana — who is likely to be the next Chief Justice of India after Justice SA Bobde demits office in April 2021 — said, “The greatest strength of the judiciary is the faith of people in it. Faith, confidence and acceptability cannot be commanded, they have to be earned.”

Last month, Justice Ramana had expressed serious concern over judges becoming soft targets of criticism and subject of juicy gossip on social media.

Quoting Justice Lakshmanan, Justice Ramana today said, “We, the members of the judicial hierarchy, have inherited the legacy of dedicated collective endeavour by the Bench and the Bar in establishing an unbroken tradition of high efficiency, perfect integrity and fearless independence.”