In Retirement Begins....

AFTER MY retirement I took a month’s holiday at my village Budhwar. The Judges of the Supreme Court very kindly gave me a hearty send-off at the New Delhi railway station and I got a big reception at Pathankot from the leading citizens of that place.

I had no desire to take up any work of a remunerative character either with the Government or with any University but I wanted to resume the educational work which I had practically given up after my appointment to the High Court Bench.

I had long been associated with the D. A. V. College Trust and Managing Society. Soon after my starting practice at Lahore I was elected a secretary of its Managing Committee in 1919.

In due course I became General Secretary, vice-president and in 1936 president of the Managing Committee. On my elevation to the Lahore High Court I resigned my Office but continued to be a member of the Managing Committee and of most of its important sub-committees.

When I became office-bearer of the Committee in 1919 Mahatma Hans Raj was the guiding star of the Arya Samaj as well as of its educational mission: no one has done more for the cause of the education in the Punjab. His was a life of simplicity, devotion and sacrifice. His spirit of self-sacrifice was catching and his example affected a number of young men who undertook to serve as life members of the D. A. V. College. Lala Sani Das, Lala Diwan Chand, Dr. Gokal Chand, Lala Ram Chand belonged to the first band of young men drawn to the cause. Lala Sain Das became his successor as the Principal of the D. A. V. College, Lahore and after retirement was for some time President of the D. A. V. College Managing Com-mittee.

To be continued....