JOIN USA court of law is a place where the public can walk in, take a seat at the back and watch the proceedings. Seventy years ago as a student of Law, I strayed into a courtroom in the High Court. A bench of two august judges perched on a high stage behind a massive table was hearing a matter of grave importance. Lawyers and their clients seated down below gazed up from their seats to see their lordships. A majestic building of the colonial era with fans purring from the high ceiling, it was naturally cool inside. A lawyer was addressing the court, in a soothing monotone. To our shock, the head of one of the judges suddenly disappeared behind the table. We heard later, much to our relief, that the judge was safe, having just sunk into his stuffed chair in deep slumber leaving his fellow judge to hear the case.
I was sitting in a court where disputes between the government and its employees were being heard. When the court was to begin the day’s work, a young lady lawyer rushed into the courtroom seeming desperate. She had just filed a case in the office but was told that it would take some days to get admitted to the court, but her client, also a lady, could not wait. She and her husband, a Railway employee, had broken up some time ago. The husband had walked out of the Railway quarters and wrote to his office to resume possession of the premises as he was no longer living there.
Meanwhile, the lady had fixed up the wedding of her daughter and had sent out invitations. When the husband came to know of this, to spite her, he had urged his office to take possession of the quarter immediately. The wedding date was just two days away. She was in tears not knowing what to do and wanted the court’s help to postpone the eviction until the wedding.
This was a family quarrel out of the jurisdiction of a service court. But moved by the lady’s predicament and inclined to help, the presiding judge asked the lawyer for the Railways if his client, having waited so long, could not wait three more days by which time the wedding would be over. Anxious to oblige the judge before whom he had to appear every day, the lawyer promptly agreed to advise his client accordingly. Turning to the applicant, the judge sternly told her that she should vacate the quarter immediately after the wedding. The hearing was postponed by a week and then the court refused to hear it saying the case was out of its jurisdiction. In effect, the court had given relief in a case over which it had no jurisdiction!