Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: “ While moving forward, with care and integrity, uphold the Constitutional values of ‘justice, equality, and fraternity’ bestowed upon us by the Constitution,” said Judge of the Supreme Court (SC), Justice Prasanna Varale.
He was speaking at a ceremony organised by the Advocates’ Association of the Bombay High Court at the Aurangabad bench to felicitate the judges who were recently appointed to the Bombay High Court and are currently serving at the Aurangabad bench, at the High Court premises on Sunday.
Justice Prasanna Varale said that the newly appointed judges should conduct themselves in a manner that inspires junior advocates and maintain respect for their seniors. “However, while delivering justice, they should not discriminate between seniors and juniors,” he said.
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Judges felicitated
The judges who were felicitated are Justice Sachin Deshmukh, Justice Mahendra Nerlikar, Justice Ajit Kadethankar, Justice Siddheshwar Thombre and Justice Abasaheb Shinde with their spouses, while Justice Vaishali Jadhav-Patil was honoured with her husband and Justice Hiten Venegavnkar with his mother.
Senior-most and administrative judge of the Bench Justice Vibha Kankanwadi, presided over the function. “This felicitation is of those who have discipline and make honest efforts and uphold values. There are high expectations from all of them,” said Justice Kankanwadi.
Legal experts V D Salunke, Nandkumar Khandare, Rajendra Deshmukh, R N Dhorde and Nitin Chaudhary, along with the felicitated judges, expressed their views.
Advocates’ Association president Yogita Thorat-Kshirsagar made an introductory speech. Neha Kamble conducted the proceedings of the programme while the Association’s secretary, Shrikrishna Chaudhary, proposed a vote of thanks.
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Justice Varale’s concern
“The Constitution has given us the values of justice, equality, and fraternity. However, we have not been able to fully follow the values during the last 75 years, ”Justice Varale expressed this regret.
Referring to incidents where mobs brutally killed people who did not look like them, he questioned, “What kind of equality and fraternity is this?” He asked whether, after so many years, we truly follow the Constitution.
He further stated that while the Constitution itself grants us the legitimate freedom to dissent. “The act of burning the photo of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, the architect of the Constitution, reflects an act of irrationality,” he asserted. He also questioned how one should respond to such acts.