LITIGANTS, LAWYERS AND JUDGES continues...

I remained a director of the bank till I resigned a few months before I was appointed a Judge of the Lahore High Court.

In those days, the manner in which the bank staff handled clients was not good. I remember an instance of how clerks behaved towards customers. Once Mr. Jagan Nath and I went to its Anarkali head office. Mr. Jagan Nath wished to deposit a sum of about Rs. 7,000 in the bank. He had the amount in currency notes which, as was usual then, had been cut into halves. When we offered the notes at the counter, the man at the counter said rudely, “Go and first join these notes together before you tender them for deposit.” After wasting some time eventually the clerk was persuaded to accept the notes for deposit. When I became a director, my first suggestion was that the bank should provide quick service at its counters and only such people should be put at the counter as behaved politely, raised no unnecessary objections, nor acted in a dilatory or rude manner. After I had taken a strong attitude in the matter, counter service improved considerably.

To eliminate nepotism the bank appointed a selection committee for appointments to the bank service and laid down minimum qualifications for entrants to its service. The Secretary of State for India entrusted to me a very interesting case concerning the rights of Government in lands in the cantonments which had been leased on certain terms. One of the conditions of the lease allowed the Secretary of State to acquire a building whenever it was needed by the cantonment authorities by paying only the price of the material used. A lessee claimed full compensation at market value for the house he had built. I successfully fought it out in the High Court.

During this year, I bought certain plants from Australia and California for my orchards at Pathankot and Daramsala Cantonment. The experiment was only partly successful as a good number of the plants died.

to be continued...