CONS OF BEING A JUDGE

Pros and Cons of being a Superior Court Judge.

The Freemen,

Dear Brethern,

By the age of 45 all are lawyers, it is only thereafter that a lawyer can either choose to:-

1.     Retire and pursue his desires or hobbies in life.

2.     Continue with his profession as a Lawyer

3.     Become a Judge.

By choosing to opt for being a Judge, he is really choosing to cut out his balance professional life by 50% as he will retire 20 years later at the age of 62 unlike a lawyer who can continue for 40 years next till the age of 82. The difference being 20 years of professional life. When offered to be Judge, my father declined as he felt he does not want to retire at the age of 62. He continued to regularly go to courts till the age of 85.

Many lawyers with merit and intellect earn between Rs 50,000 for whole case to Rs 50,000-2,00,000 per hearing. A High Court Judge gets Rs 1,00,000 at the end of the month after deciding almost 400 cases i.e. measly Rs 250 per case. Most lawyers with merit and intellect at the age of 40-45 have probably more assets than those Judges who have declared their assets at the age of 60-62.

A lawyer can regulate his working hours whereas, a judge normally works for 16 hours of a day. When Mr. Justice Sir John Douglas Young the then Chief Justice of Lahore High Court; told my Grandfather, Sh Mela Ram Aggarwal that he wishes to appoint him to the Chair, Lala Mela Ram said;  “It is better to speak ‘nonsense’ for two hours in a day and then relax in the Sunshine for rest of the day rather than hear ‘nonsense’ for whole day”.

Then why would a person with merit and intellect opt to become a judge.

First are those whose income as a lawyer is erratic and irregular and those who want a regularity in life and pension benefits. Chief Justice D K Mahajan and later Chief Justice R S Narula asked my father Mr. Raj Kumar Aggarwal for elevation as a Judge of High Court. Mr. Raj Kumar Aggarwal declined by saying; “Why you want to retire me 20 years earlier. Pension won’t be sufficient for me to maintain my family including my extended family/ relatives who are dependent upon me.”

Second are those who feel that they can further enhance their ‘real income’ and consequently ‘wealth’, even though their income as per their ‘Income Tax Returns’ will drop by 90%.

Third are those who are impressed by status – cars with red beacons, security staff (which has become a status symbol), ‘yes men’ all around and lawyers who call them “your honor’. 

Fourth are few exceptions who have genuine zeal to serve society and 

such a person will go anywhere in India to serve the society,

Top lawyers who don’t want to be Judge are the first rank specialists, those with outstanding ability and long experience in specialized branches of the law for the most part have no ambitions to become judges. If They opt to become a Judge, their incomes will reduce by more than 90%. They already have more respect in their field.

It is equally distressing for a top commercial lawyer to become a Judge. It is not just the loss of financial income, but the horror at suddenly moving away from the most eminent businessmen in the country and their really intellectually stimulating problems, and just sitting there trying criminals and listening to old people as to why they should or should not get 100 rupee rise in their salary or not. etc. For most part of the disputed revolve around a few thousand rupees only. For them like me there is only one case in hundred which is of any intellectual stimulation.’

But of course, ‘elevation’ if you prefer to call it that way can becomes extremely attractive to people who do not have that level of personal ability that they are going to maintain their professional career up to retirement age.  Because once you’re a little bit over the top, you’re fifty or fifty five.  If your haven’t made it, or unless you are offering a specialist service, your are what is called a general practitioner.  And all the general practitioners always have young and attractive men and women following behind them and they get pushed out as has-beens.  Therefore, there is terrific competition on the part of the second-rate lawyers to get what I call ‘minor’ preferment of being appointed as a High Court or Supreme Court Judge.

       

With inputs from the “Brotherhood” by Stephen Knight an English  historian. The book was written from 1976-1983 and was published in 1984 in London.

Kapil Dev Aggarwal