TMI Blog1990 (3) TMI 375X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ocate and also the Ex-Advocate General of the State. Mr. Mathur has appealed to this Court for setting aside that order. This matter pertains to a case which has come to be known as M.P. Liquor case. It was with regard to the grant for construction of new distillaries by the policy decision of the State Government of Madhya Pradesh. That policy decision was challenged before the High Court by way of writ petitions. The Writ Petitions were allowed by the Division Bench consisting of the Acting Chief Justice Mr. J.S. Verma (as he then was) and Justice B.M. Lal. In those writ petitions, Mr. Mathur as Advocate-General appeared and argued for the State Government. Learned Acting Chief Justice delivered the main judgment in the writ petitions ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... June 1988 i.e. after a delay of 738 days Mr. Promod Kumar Gupta, Advocate who had no connection whatsoever with the earlier litigation in the writ petitions or appeals, filed a review petition before the High Court. He was represented by Mr. S. Dixit, Advocate. In the review petition it was inter alia alleged that the State Government by committing fraud has procured the judgment from the Supreme Court, thereby vitiating the most solemn proceedings of the Apex Court of the Nation. He has also filed an application No. 3858 of 1988 for interim findings on the question of fraud. On 29 October, 1988, the matter was listed for admission before a Bench consisting of learned Judges Mr. C.P. Sen and Mr. B.M. Lal. After arguments, C.P. Sen, J., s ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nounced his order dismissing the review petition. The relevant portion of that order is as under: While briefing about the application for amendment of the return to the Chief Minister Shri Arjun Singh, had Shri A.M. Matbut, Advocate-General acted in bona fide and honest manner, the fraud on the Court would have been avoided. So also the misleading press statement by the Chief Minister to the Blitz would have been on true facts and this situation would not have arisen; putting the Courts in an embarrassing position. Continued: It is the moral duty of a lawyer, much less the Advocate General, to act faithfully for the cause of his client and to furnish information about the Court's proceedings correctly. In the past the chair ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the fraud on the Court would have been avoided and the Chief Minister would not have given a misleading press statement. He has also remarked that the appellant did not act befitting with the status of the High Office of the Advocate General and he did not have the courage to face the situation in the Court. Such are his conclusions, or surmises in the review petition which was not disposed of on the merits but dismissed for want of jurisdiction. The appellant's complaint before us is that he had no opportunity to meet the allegations in the review petition, much less as against averments in the subsequent application dated 25 January, 1989. He made it clear to the High Court on 6 October 1988 and also on 29 October 1988 that he ent ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... est of men, do not turn aside in their course, and pass judges by. We like to figure to ourselves the processes of justice as coldly objective and impersonal. The law, conceived of as a real existence, dwelling apart and alone, speaks, through the voices of priests and ministers, the words which they have no choice except to utter. That is an ideal of objective truth toward which every system of jurisprudence tends ..... It has a lofty sound; it is well and finely said; but it can never be more than partly true. (1) Justice Felix Frankfurter, put it with a different emphasis: Judges are men, not disembodied spirits. Of course a Judge is not free from preferences or, if you will, biases. (2) (1) The Nature of the Judicial Process by Benja ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... al respect. When these qualities fail or when litigants and public believe that the judge has failed in these qualities, it will be neither good for the judge nor for the judicial process. The Judges Bench is a seat of power. Not only do judges have power to make binding decisions, their decisions legitimate the use of power by other officials. The Judges have the absolute and unchallenged control of the Court domain. But they cannot misuse their authority by intemperate comments, undignified banter or scathing criticism of counsel, parties or witnesses. We concede that the Court has the inherent power to act freely upon its own conviction on any matter coming before it for adjudication, but it is a general principle of the highest importan ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
