Chief Justice of India continues....

My erstwhile Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court, Sir Trevor Harries wrote to me:

“With best of luck this letter should reach you on Monday morning, the day you become Chief Justice of India. I, therefore, take this opportunity of wishing you every success. No one could possibly deserve the honour more than do and may your term of office be both successful and pleasant. At long last, the Supreme Court will have a man of personality at its head who will control its deliberations and its work judicially. Further you will set a standard which will be of greatest assistance to your successor.”

The Tribune, a leading newspaper of India published an article on my appointment as the Chief Justice of India. Among other things it recalled my earlier career and thus commented on my work as a judge:

In 1943 Mr. Mehr Chand Mahajan was elevated to the Bench, and dispensed justice without fear or favour. The Law Reports will always be a memorial to his work as a judge and he is sure to live in his judgments. In 1945 he was appointed a member of the Royal Indian Navy Mutiny Commission ....

Posterity will be grateful to him for his work as member of the Punjab Boundary Commission in 1947. His sagacity alone, it is said, saved a part of Gurdaspur district for India.

“It was a tribute to his genius that Sardar Patel had him appointed the Prime Minister of Kashmir, and he it was who saved the then Maharaja from many an intrigue and the State from utter ruin.

“At 64, Sri Mahajan enjoys excellent health, and regularly turns out for a morning walk and a set of tennis. He has stupendous capacity for work, and a marvellous memory. It is a pleasure to meet him; his geniality and hospitality are traced to his training in the Rajput family of his foster parents. He respects his foster-relations as much as he does his own.

To be continued....