JANARDAN SAHAI, V.K. SHUKLA, A.P. SAHI, VIKRAM NATH and S.K. JAIN, JJ. –

Long before our Late Prime Minister Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru had within the portals of the Parliament trumpeted the• creation of a free Nation in 1947 proclaiming that India was making her tryst with destiny, the Queen Empress Victoria, through a solemn Royal Charter in the year 1866, laid the surest and firm foundations of this institution representing what every free human being desires, the rule and majesty of law in a civilized society. This acknowledged the supremacy of law to a great extent even in the British ruled dominions that held sway over almost every part of the Globe. This authenticated document which is still preserved in original and housed in the Museum of our Court, heralded a new era of dispensation of justice with new hopes of preservation of the rule of law. The monarchy came to an end and then dawned a new Republic. With the birth of a new nation, we gave ourselves a New Constitution with a pledge to preserve the rule of Law in a new democracy.

2. Holding on to the heritage of a Judicial System with its colonial background and imperial authority, but with a new backbone and with visions that stood enshrined and engrafted firmly therein, this “Indian Magna Carta” also contains Article 215 empowering the Higher Judiciary of the States to punish for contempt. This empowerment is the confidence reposed in this institution by our own people who have given unto themselves the Constitution. Such confidence was thought to be necessarily expressed to aid and support the cherished principle of upholding the Rule of Law and to revere the “sense of justice” that is inherent in every human being. The roots of such pure thoughts travel far beyond our Constitution and the Laws and also the Royal Charter. They are to be found in Manu Smriti and the Srimad Bhagwat Gita, in the Bible and the Quran and even in the documents of Atheists. It has an ethical and philosophical support that has enabled it to survive the test of time.

3. Armed and supported with such eternally firm principles, we are reminded of the indestructibility of this bastion of democracy in the words of Late Pt. Kanahiya Lal Mishra, while delivering his impromptu speech in the presence of Late Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, the then President of India, on the occasion of the centenary celebrations of this Court in 1966, which is quoted below :

“It is a part of the life of a lawyer to be prepared for surprises; and when I was called upon suddenly a few minutes ago to speak on this occasion, I felt that, because what I have to say will not be any different from what others might say, I should not hesitate.

We are today celebrating the lapse of a hundred years. A period of hundred years in the history of the Universe is a speck of dust in the vast expanse of the sky, but in recorded human history a period of hundred years, particularly the period that has passed between 1866 and 1966, is of considerable importance. This period has seen changes so vast that the institutions of a hundred years ago -the institutions that man creates and demolishes have become almost un-recognisable. Monarchies have tumbled. There have been two World Wars. In our own country this period of hundred years began almost with the commencement of the rule of British Crown and that rule had disappeared. It is surprising that the fondness with which man creates institutions, the importance that he attaches to them, the permanency that he attributes to them, are all based upon a lack of foresight. This is because institutions grow out of certain ideas which form the bases of these institutions. In the world of science, the most amazing discoveries, that appear to open out new vistas of knowledge, become after a lapse of time, outdated and are thrown away on the refuse and rubbish bins of time. Institutions come and go and the history of man changes and all that is held near and dear passes away into the void of eternity.