Bangalore:

Special Judge John Michael D’Cunha, who convicted Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa in the disproportionate assets case on Saturday, has a reputation of being a no-nonsense judge who gave an indication of his stern approach while dealing with the politically volatile case.

D’Cunha, who has grabbed attention for delivering the historic verdict and is the man of the moment, is the fifth judge to deal with the 18-year-old case after it was transferred to Bangalore by the Supreme Court in November 2003.

The DA case against the AIADMK supremo that took nearly 11 years at the Special Court in Bangalore to reach the stage of final verdict, witnessed four full-time judges before it landed in the hands of D’Cunha.

AS Pachhapure, the first judge of the Special Court, assumed the post in December 2003 but he could not conduct proceedings from August 2005 as the Supreme Court had stayed the order passed by him by clubbing the two cases into one case of disproportionate assets. The post fell vacant in July 2007 when Pachhapure was elevated as a judge of the Karnataka High Court.

Later A T Munoli took charge as the judge but no effective proceedings were held during his tenure due to Supreme Court’s stay order. After his retirement, B M Mallikarjunaiah was appointed to the post.

The trial had made substantial progress as crucial proceedings like re-examination of some of the witnesses by the prosecution, recording the statements of Jayalalithaa in person, etc were conducted during the tenure of Mallikarjunaiah, who retired in August 2012.

MS Balakrishna took over the position in November 2013 and he completed the process of recording statements of three other accused and had almost completed the recording of final arguments when the controversy arose about the certain procedure adopted by him and the new Special Public Prosecutor G Bhavani Singh.

Though Supreme Court upheld the procedure and permitted to continue the service of Balakrishna beyond his retirement for completing the trial, he refused to continue after his retirement on September 30, 2013.

Following this, D’Cunha was appointed to the post in October 2013 and he heard the final arguments afresh. He had passed strictures against the accused and their counsel.

During the course of hearing of the final arguments, he gave an indication of his stern approach by rebuking the defence for what what he called attempts at “protracting the trial and suppressing the facts from the Court.”

Cunha, hailing from Mangalore, had started practise as a lawyer in 1985 and was selected to the post of district judge in 2002. He served in Dharward, Bellary and Bangalore in various positions, including as Secretary to the Chief Justices and as Registrar (Vigilance) of the High Court prior to his present posting.

PTI

source: http://www.firstpost.com / FirstPost / Home> F.Post> Latest News> India News / Banglaore – September 29th, 2014

New Delhi :

Justice H.L. Dattu was Sunday sworn-in as the Chief Justice of India. He was administered the oath of office by President Pranab Mukherjee.

He is the 42nd Chief Justice of India and will be at the helms of the Indian judiciary till December 2, 2015. He succeeds Chief Justice R.M. Lodha who demitted office Sep 27.

The oath ceremony held in Darbar Hall of Rashtrapati Bhavan was attended by Vice President Hamid Ansari, former deputy prime minister L.K. Advani, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu, outgoing Chief Justice R.M. Lodha and Justice A.S. Anand as well as other seating and retired judges.

Before being elevated as the judge of the apex court Dec 17, 2008, Chief Justice Dattu was the Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court.

He was appointed a judge of the Karnataka High Court Dec 18, 1995. Thereafter, he was elevated as Chief Justice of Chhattisgarh High Court Feb 12, 2007. Three months later May 18, 2007, he was transferred to head the Kerala High Court.

Born Dec 3, 1950, Chief Justice Dattu was enrolled as an advocate Oct 23, 1975. He practised at Bangalore in civil, criminal, constitutional and taxation matters.

Chief Justice Dattu appeared as government counsel in the Karnataka High court for the sales tax department from 1983 to 1990, government advocate from 1990 to 1993, standing counsel for the income tax department from 1992 to 1993 and a senior standing counsel for the IT department from 1993 to 1995.

A No-nonsense Judge

A fervent devotee of Lord Ganesha and a connoisseur of Carnatic music, Justice Dattu will have to tackle two major challenges– to bring down the pendency of cases and strike a perfect balance between the Judiciary and Executive.

He takes his case files home, and is a firm believer of completing the hearing in the cases till the last word and leaves no lacunae.

In January, Justice Dattu, while dismissing a PIL seeking to abolish the practice of addressing judges as Lordships, had said, “What we want is a respectable way of address -”sir”, “my lord”, “your lordship” or in some other manner. People address us as “sir”. We don’t have any objection. It is your outlook to address us respectfully.”

Known for his no-nonsense attitude, a tough sense of discipline in the court, who believes in giving no adjournments in the cases, Justice Dattu will be hearing the pending review petition on the legality of Section 377 (the decriminalisation of gay sex).

He will hold the post for a little over a year until his retirement on December 2, 2015-one of the longest tenures for a CJI in recent years. The previous year has seen two CJIs retiring in a year’s time. Justice S Sathasivam retired in April after serving a little over nine months as CJI, followed by Justice R M Lodha, who held the top job for only five months.

Soon after his appointment was announced earlier this month, Justice Dattu had said, “I seek the blessings of all citizens of India. May they give me the courage and confidence to take this Institution to the highest stride.”

Justice Dattu is known for his penchant for hard work and has few outings with his family and friends. He describes former CJI S Rajendra Babu as his guru and says that it was Babu, who had taught him the virtue of hard work. Justice Dattu has also contributed in the field of social work under organisations like the Rotary Club. His tenure will begin at a crucial time when the Centre is pressing ahead with its decision to introduce the new National Judicial Appointment Committee (NJAC) after formally disbanding the Collegium System for the appointment of judges to higher courts.

As CJI, Justice Dattu is scheduled to hear some of the most important cases in the Supreme Court. He will be adjudicating the fate of Delhi Assembly and black money to name a few.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Nation / by IANS and ENS / September 28th, 2014