‘Wheels’ of justice(s): Judges drive cross-country to take up new posting

Jayanta Gupta | TNN | Updated: Apr 27, 2020, 08:31 IST

(Left-right) Justice Biswanath Somadder and justice Dipankar Datta

KOLKATA: If justice delayed, as they say, is justice denied, these judges have made sure that nothing — not even a locked-down country — could keep them from their new appointments. Since there’s no transport to be had now, justices Biswanath Somadder and Dipankar Datta — both with a strong connection with Calcutta High Court — have driven down a total of around 4000km to take up the post of Chief Justice, the former of Meghalaya HC, and the latter of Bombay HC.
Justice Somadder was also acting Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court before being transferred to Allahabad High Court. He has now been elevated to the position of Chief Justice of Meghalaya High Court. After receiving the order from President Ram Nath Kovind, he started the almost 800km journey from Allahabad for Kolkata on Friday. While his chauffeur drove part of the way, Justice Somadder took turns to ensure that the distance was covered in time. According to a source, he reached Kolkata on Saturday afternoon. After a stopover of just a few hours, he started for Shillong (a distance of 1100km) around 7.30pm. On Sunday evening, he started from Guwahati for the Meghalaya capital.
Justice Datta also started for Mumbai from Kolkata (a distance of around 2,200km) on Saturday, accompanied by his son, with whom he is sharing driving duties to avoid exertion. He is scheduled to reach Mumbai sometime on Monday evening, and is expected to be sworn in as Chief Justice of Bombay HC on Tuesday. “Justice Datta was one of the seniormost judges of Calcutta High Court. He was elevated as permanent judge of Calcutta HC in 2006. Because of the lockdown, there’s no way to travel to Mumbai from Kolkata, which is why he decided to drive down,” said a person in the know.
20 to attend Meghalaya CJ swearing-in
The swearing-in of Justice Somadder as CJ of Meghalaya High Court, scheduled for 11am on Monday, will be a unique event. Following social distancing norms, only about 20 people, including Meghalaya chief minister Conrad Sangma, governor Tathagata Roy and Justice Sommader will be in attendance. Justice Sommader has instructed his staff to keep the number of invitees limited to 10, a source confirmed. He made these arrangements while travelling from Allahabad to Shillong by road over the last three days. Justice Datta is scheduled to take charge on Tuesday.
Both Justice Somadder and Justice Datta are strictly adhering to all lockdown rules.
Justice Somadder, who has been instrumental in setting up Calcutta HC’s circuit bench in Jalpaiguri, was also one of the seniormost judges of Allahabad HC, and may have taken over as its CJ in a year’s time. He was, however, nominated as CJ of Meghalaya HC by CJI S A Bobde.