A visit to the Supreme Court

I wanted to write a sequel to my previous blog but did not come up with anything particularly interesting( I mean I’ll just be among the thousand bloggers insisting that peace marches and human chains may well show solidarity, but for a long term plan they need to remind themselves that they also have a duty towards their country. It’s not just the politicians and the armed forces that have their duties defined to them. We as civilians can also help the situation and marching with candles and spending half a day under the sun forming a chain is not the answer. We need to change our attitude, and not wake up to a blast and have our content and peaceful bubble burst.) Thus this post. It might come across as a “legal profession bashing session”, but heck we all need a reality check. I probably like many others had this particular illusion of the Supreme Court being the temple of my profession. (Sounds dramatic? Read on…) when we went to get our passes done we had to wait in this pigeon hole sized hall for our passes, and we had two fans aiding us in battling the heat. While we waited a man who seemed to want to exit the room came right in front of me and said, “excuse me…” so I gave him the way, instead he stood right in front of me, and remained there. The heat having gotten to me the following dialogue passed between us:
Me: Sir, you are standing in my place in the queue.
He: But madam you offered me the place.
Me (Switching to my high pitched voice): Sir, you said excuse me, I thought you wanted to leave the room, why would I give you my place in the queue?
He: But madam you offered….
Me: In case you misinterpreted me, I’m clearing up the confusion, please step back…
All this was said by me in my killer tone. People there gave me the okay lady cool it look.

Having finally got our passes we proceeded to watch the proceedings in court hall 1 which is the chief justice’s court. Now, my expectations were sky high, but as soon as we stepped in it was like somebody splashed me with ice cold water… I probably had my mouth wide open for a moment wondering if I’d entered the wrong court hall, but was sure it was the chief justice’s court. We took our places in the visitors section and tried our best to comprehend the procedure and strained our ears to hear the advocates argue. It was a pathetic sight, there was no orderliness, and everything there is so disorganized. Finally we heard a voice that made us sit straight, we heard him argue out his case, understood every syllable he uttered and were totally impressed with this advocate. We could only see his back, while he argued. Once he was done stating his case he looked up at the judge who, said I quote, “ So, what do I do?” (Duh!!!!!) The next instant the advocate gave a fitting reply and when he turned around to storm out of the court hall we got his full view. It was Arun Jaitley. That was probably the only high light of our visit to the Supreme Court. Otherwise, the Supreme Court has nothing extraordinary to offer and the only comforting thing is that the court halls have AC’s.

The judges are so old and one has to actually sit in the court to realize the full extent of their lack of interest in the proceedings. This was one reality check I could do with. At least now I’m prepared and don’t have high expectations. But it’s really sad that our courts are so disorganized, and that people are not provided for properly. There is scope for improvement. The only question is whether people really want things to change? I guess once you reach the apex court you’ve gained a comfortable position and bothering about anything apart from the finances is too much of a strain on ones metal prowess. Sad state of affairs, blogging about it also saddens me more. It was after this visit that I asked my self if law was the right choice. Once you step into the final year there is no doubting your choice (at least it is so for me) All I can comfort myself is with the fact that there are a few good lawyers that I can still look up to and was glad to watch one of them actually argue.