Blitz Bureau
RECALLING the legacy left behind by her father and former Chief Justice of India ES Venkataramiah, Supreme Court Justice BV Nagarathna said that she learnt from her father to fight against injustice but to remain calm while doing so, according to Bar and Bench.
She said that she always remained a student of law under his guidance and he fortified her belief to fight for a good cause.
Justice Nagarathna, who is in line to be the country’s first women chief justice, was speaking at the ‘Justice ES Venkataramiah Centennial Memorial Lecture’ organised by the National Law School of India University, in Bengaluru on December 22. Justice Nagarathna struggled to fight her tears as she remembered her father’s vast body of work and her mother Padma’s unrelenting support for him.
Justice Venkatramaiah served as the CJI from June 19, 1989 to December 17, 1989. He was a Supreme Court judge from March 8, 1979. Justice Nagarathna also narrated a fascinating anecdote about two young lawyers, one her father and the other R Venkataraman, meeting on a train journey to Nagpur in 1946 to take part in the All India Lawyers’ conference. “One would go on to become the President of India, the other, the Chief Justice,” Justice Nagarathna said.
Justice Nagarathna said that her father’s love for literature and Indian culture and his thirst for knowledge exposed her to varied subjects. She also recounted her father’s words when he was elevated as a judge. “A judge is always on trial and I hope to be acquitted honourably at the end of my tenure.” The event was also attended by Supreme Court Justice PS Narasimha, former Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice Mukul Mudgal and judges and senior lawyers of the Karnataka High Court.
