Chennai

Most of the judgements in the Madras High Court have come to be hailed as a thesis on the subject dealt with. Many judges write their judgements, not only offering it a human touch, but also bring out their command over English and their knowledge of both English and Tamil literature.

Usually, judgements by certain judges invariably start with a quote revealing in a nut shell the way the issue on hand has been analysed and judgement delivered, without favouring anyone.

In fact, many still talk about the late Justice M Srinivasan, who while in Madras High Court, used to invariably quote couplets from Thirukkural in every judgement that he delivered.

The trend continues till date.

Interestingly, lyrics made popular in movies have also come to be used. In a recent judgement, a judge lamenting that the mosquito menace is manmade and that there is a chain reaction to every-man-made-wrong, commenced his judgment with the line Thirudanai parthu thiruntha vittal thiruttai ozhika mudiathu (Meaning, robbery can’t be eradicated until the robber decides to reform himself), written by lyricist Pattukottai Kalyanasundram for the MGR-starrer Thirudathe.

However, the judge elaborating on how we have all been party to the spread of diseases like dengue concluded his judgement by saying, “The Tamil lyrics quoted in the beginning of the judgement is not only applicable to theft or money, but also applicable to environmental violators/ encroachers, as every citizen has the moral responsibility of keeping his surroundings clean.” He has also called all honest citizens to come forward to remove encroachments on their own as several illegal regularisations have blocked water channels, and storm water drains.

Hope his clarion call works.

—D Sivarajan, Chennai

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