Chief Justice: Plainspeak

Ranchi, Oct. 4: Within two months of her taking over as chief justice of the Jharkhand High Court, Gyan Sudha Misra realised how Naxalite terror had embedded itself in her new state when a crude bomb blast at the Chatra court lock-up injured two policemen and as many as 12 undertrials on September 8.

This prompted her to hold a meeting with the police top brass, including DGP V.D. Ram, IG (operations) D.K. Pandey and IG (special branch) P.R.K. Naidu, the next day to express her anguish at the way the law of the land wasn’t being used to tackle Maoist terror

“I am really disturbed as the state government wasn’t taking legal recourse to contain the deteriorating public order due to growing Naxalite menace in Jharkhand,” she is understood to have told her colleagues after the meeting .

“Legal recourse like the National Security Act (NSA) is lying non-effective. The government has failed to put criminals behind bars. I don’t know why the government was not taking legal recourse if Maoist activities are posing a serious threat to public order,” she said.

The courts, she added, had their own limitations and could not always step in to restore public order.

Misra, only the third lady chief justice of a high court since Independence — Leela Seth and Sujata Manohar are the others — was transferred from Rajasthan where she was known as an upright, outspoken legal eagle who fought for people’s rights.

In one of her first hearings since she took over at the Jharkhand High Court on July 10, Misra came down heavily on the PSU, Central Coalfields Ltd (CCL), for unfairly holding on to retirement benefits of an employee for 20 years.

Devendra Prasad Singh had retired in 1988 but was denied superannuation benefits as a case for tampering of records was pending against him. However, he was exonerated in 2001.

When CCL refused to pay up even after that, Singh filed a writ in the high court which ordered in his favour. But CCL did not comply with the order. Singh filed a contempt case this year and when it came up for hearing, Misra warned CCL and asked it to make a token payment immediately.

But sensing the chief justice’s displeasure, the PSU cleared the entire dues of Rs 6.23 lakh on September 22.

Misra was also known for her strong opinions on pending cases. She believed judges should dispose of cases in which no contentious law or constitutional point was involved at the admission stage.