We need to commend the Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad for having taken the very right decision in dropping Atmaram Nadkarni as the Additional Solicitor General of India. This was long overdue.
Atmaram Nadkarni who was known to be a side-kick of Manohar Parrikar moved to Delhi after Parrikar’s appointment as Defence Minister with an eye on becoming a Supreme Court Judge. Through Parrikar’s clout he managed to be appointed as Additional Solicitor General and was also representing Goa in the Supreme Court. But in July last year the Pramod Sawant government sacked Atmaram Nadkarni from representing the State in the Supreme Court, National Green Tribunal and Mhadei Water Disputes Tribunal. The bankrupt Goa Government even had the rank audacity of affording Atmaram Nadkarni an unlimited State credit Card. What an economical shame and distress it was for our already impoverished State. Atmaram Nadkarni did everything possible to lobby an elevation to a Supreme Court Judge but stands bumped out. I had earlier this year written to the Chief Justice of India Sharad Arvind Bobde and all the other 32 Supreme Court Judges drawing their attention to Atmaram Nadkarni’s blatant acts of omission and commission over the years as Advocate General of Goa and later as Additional Solicitor General of India while giving them detailed reasons as to why the name of the very awfully stained Atmaram Nadkarni should not be considered for the coveted post as Supreme Court Judge. The Supreme Court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts and hears cases of the greatest public and constitutional importance affecting the whole population. It is for this reason that every officer of the court must ensure that the integrity and sanctity of the Court is preserved at all costs and be judicial in its proceedings without fear or favour and without interference. To act otherwise, would be a catastrophic blunder and an erosion of faith of the people who see the Supreme Court as their final hope of justice. If a person like Atmaram Nadkarni was allowed to occupy the August Chair as Judge of India’s highest temple of Justice, the Supreme Court would have been reduced to a den for fixing matters – and become a trader’s paradise. When Jesus Christ drove away the traders and money changers from the temple with a whip of cords, he said “my house shall be a house of prayer but you have turned it into a den of thieves”. Likewise, we cannot allow that Temple of Justice, the highest Court in the land to be the evil den instead of dispensing prudent justice through the appointment of Judges who are fair, impartial and not tainted in any way. After all a leopard is not likely to change its spots. The Judiciary must knock off tainted persons from the list of probables and avoid getting its hands in dirt and muck. Francis Bacon wisely observed: Judges ought to be more learned than witty, more reverend than plausible and more advised than confident. But above all things, integrity is their portion and proper virtue. Integrity is a life where your beliefs and intentions are aligned with your words and actions. If you don’t have integrity you have nothing. You can’t buy it. You can have all the money in the world, but if you are not a moral and ethical person, you really have nothing. Aires Rodrigues Advocate High Court C/G-2, Shopping Complex Ribandar Retreat, Ribandar – Goa – 403006 Mobile No: 9822684372 Office Tel No: (0832) 2444012 Email: [email protected] Or [email protected] You can also reach me on Facebook.com/ AiresRodrigues Twitter@rodrigues_aires www.airesrodrigues.com
