Chief Justice’s wisdom

"Everyone in the Bench and Bar knows that Justice Sarosh H. Kapadia, who will take over as the Chief Justice of India (CJI) next month, is an expert in laws relating to finance, trade and commerce and a scrupulous stickler of the rule book. True to his image, Justice Kapadia on Saturday (April 17) made public his agenda and priorities” when delivering the L. M. Singhvi memorial lecture on "Developing Framework of Modern Litigation” organized by the Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association, reported the Times News Network of April 18, 2010.

Justice Sarosh Kapadia: expand knowledge base

The next-in-line CJI believes that if India wants to stop arbitration and commercial contract disputes from moving out to foreign soil, judges as well as lawyers need to work hard to improve their knowledge base in international trade and commerce. It was not only for the judges of the higher judiciary to update themselves with economic concepts and evolving technology but the judicial officers at the subordinate judiciary should also be aware of the economic terms and concepts, particularly when the country’s economy was heading towards de-regulation, he recommended.

He had a word of caution against judges who believed in a populist approach. "People come to court as they expect wisdom from judges. Let us be selective in what we say and not go by what is popular,” he said. Speaking to the audience, mainly of young lawyers, Kapadia urged them to emulate the virtue of humility witnessed in the likes of Singhvi, Nani Palkhivala and such other legal luminaries. Kapadia regretted, "Today’s lawyers throw tantrums in court. They must understand when questions are asked by judges… in this interaction judges learn and the framework of providing justice is achieved.”