On the Bench Once More continues....

On the 18th Day of September 1948 I got the following warrant of appointment.

“By virtue of the powers vested in me by Sub-Section 2 of Section 200 of the Government of India Act, 1935, as adopted by the India Provisional Constitution Order 1947, J. Chakravarty, Rajgopalachari, the Governor General of India, do hereby appoint the Hon’ble Mr. Justice Mehr Chand Mahajan of the East Punjab High Court to be a Judge of the Federal Court with effect from the date he assumes his duties.”

On the 25th September 1948, Sardar Patel wrote to me as under:

“I am awaiting your arrival but in the meanwhile you must accept my congratulations for your appointment in the Federal Court which is now the highest court in free India. More when we meet.”

Chief Justice Kania also wrote to me offering his congratulations on the same date. Shoals of congratulatory letters and telegrams followed the announcement of my appointment to the Federal Court. The President of the High Court Bar Association presented a farewell address.

When I left the East Punjab High Court, Mr. Justice Dewan Ram Lal was the Chief Justice. I was the seniormost puisne Judge and the other Judges were Mr Justice Teja Singh, Mr Justice Bhandari, Mr. Justice Achhru Ram, Mr Justice Khosla and Mr. Justice Falshaw. All of us had been Judges of the Lahore High Court.

Uprooted from. Lahore together, we constituted more or less a joint family and the work of the Court was carried on according to the highest traditions of justice. Of course, there was not much work for the Court to do in these days owing to the partition of the
country and the disruption of a very large number of people. The High Court library and office had to be built from scratch.

To be continued....