The truth hurts

Gujarat High Court Justice Jamshed Pardiwala withdrew his comments pertaining to reservations and corruption following an uproar by 58 Members of Parliament who sought impeachment proceedings against him on December 18, 2015. They alleged that the 50-year-old judge had, on December 1, 2015, while delivering a judgment on a special criminal application against Hardik Patel, a political activist campaigning for reservations, ruled that two things have "destroyed this country… reservation and corruption.” The judge withdrew his remarks on December 19 and they were later expunged from his order.
An extract from Pardiwala’s judgment circulated over the social media reads: "If I am asked by anyone to name two things, which have destroyed this country or rather, have not allowed the country, to progress in the right direction, then the same are, reservation and corruption. It is very shameful for any citizen of this country to ask for reservation after 65 years of independence. When our Constitution was framed, it was understood that reservation would remain for a period of 10 years, but unfortunately, it has continued even after 65 years of independence.

Justice Jamshed Pardiwala: honest and upright

"The biggest threat today for the country is corruption. The countrymen should rise and fight against corruption at all levels, rather than shedding blood and indulging in violence for the reservation. Reservation has only played the role of an amoeboid monster sowing seeds of discord amongst the people. The importance of merit, in any society, cannot be understated. Merit stands for a positive goal and when looked at instrumentally, stands for ‘rewarding those actions that are considered good.’ Then, this instrumental nature of merit that should be given importance — emphasizing on and rewarding merit is a means towards achieving what is regarded as good in society. The parody of the situation is that India must be the only country wherein some of the citizens crave to be called backward.”
Several citizens rallied to support Pardiwala. Bombay Parsi Punchayet trustee and charity management expert Noshir Dadrawala wrote that Pardiwala "is personally known to me. He is a sincere, honest and upright judge and a wonderful human being with strong family and spiritual values. Every word that he has stated is true and it takes courage to say what you mean and mean what you say. Indeed corruption at all levels is the bane of our country and reservation is a political tool in the hands of corrupt politicians. (He) deserves kudos for speaking his mind fearlessly.”
Secunderabad based blogger, chartered accountant and trustee of the Parsi Zoroastrian Anjuman of Secunderabad and Hyderabad opined: "If we had more judges like him, India would have been a better country where the sole criterion for progress of an individual and the nation would have been…merit… There is nothing wrong in what the judge has said … The MPs are (trying) to interfere in the judicial process of this country.”