LITIGANTS, LAWYERS AND JUDGES continues...

I was not willing to pay this fantastic amount
because with much less cost I could have installed an independent dynamo on a nearby waterfall. I suggested that they should lay the line on a number of trees and wooden poles which I undertook to supply. This was not acceptable to them. When I suggested that in Kashmir, Switzerland and north Italy, electricity was carried on trees and wooden poles, the administration was not impressed.
I wrote to the Minister, Dr. Sir Gokal Chand Narang, giving all the details and reminding him of his speeches. On his intercession the amount was reduced to Rs. 10,000. This offer I declined. One fine morning I was surprised when I received a letter from the department that provided that I paid the cost of one pole to be installed within my compound, I would get the electric connection both for my house and the pump. This seemed to be too good to be true. On enquiry I was now told that my house had been included for purposes of electric supply within the municipal limits of Pathankot. I accepted the terms immediately and electricity was made available both for the house and the pump.

Sir Douglas Young strongly held the view that he had eradicated corruption from the ranks of the judiciary. One day he asked me whether this was so. I frankly told him that corruption was still there. Owing to the increased risks involved everyone wanted double the amount previously taken by him for doing the same job!

Her Highness Maharani Taradevi of Kashmir engaged me in a small matter through her brother Thakur Nachint Chand. She had built a small house at her parents’ home, Bijaipur, in the Kangra District. Her father’s collateral, Mian Devi Chand, contested her right to build the house on the site she had selected. She had lost the case in the court of the District Judge and wanted to file an appeal in the High Court. Her brother came to engage me at Lahore and was waylaid by the touts.

to be continued...