Institute of Legal and Management Studies

At a program organized by 'The Leaflet' in December last year, Justice Gautam Patel, former judge of the Bombay High Court asked noted legal scholar, Professor Upendra Baxi about the three qualities that a citizen expected to see from a judge. “Spine, spine, spine”, was Professor Baxi's spontaneous response. Sharing the stage with Justice Patel and Professor Baxi was Justice Abhay Oka – a judge who personified this quality.

Justice Oka retires Friday (May 23). One can expect richly deserved encomiums from the legal fraternity. Almost all of these will point to Justice Oka's courage and his fierce independence. They would be correct too - for in a judicial career that spanned over 22 years, Justice Oka more than lived up to his name – 'Abhay' which translates to 'without fear'. This was not the only admirable quality that he had though.

I first heard of Justice Oka in July, 2020 when as Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court he personally welcomed back a staff member of the Court who had recovered from COVID-19. Contemporaneous news articles from the time report that Justice Oka had monitored the health of every judicial officer and staff member who had contracted the virus.

Before he became the Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court in May, 2019 Justice Oka had served as a judge of the Bombay High Court for 16 years. During the period he delivered several important judgments on a variety of issues. For instance, in Sanjay Ananda Salve's case, a bench presided over by Justice Oka quashed the suspension of a school teacher, who had refused to fold his hands during school prayer. The teacher had asserted that he was a non-believer and that he could not be compelled to fold his hands during prayer. The court protected his right and said his action did not amount to misconduct.

The bench headed by Justice Oka also struck down Section 5D of the Maharashtra Animal Preservation Act, which criminalised the possession of meat of a bull or bullock slaughtered outside Maharashtra. Significantly, the judgment delivered in May, 2016 held that what one eats or drinks is a part of one's right to privacy. This was more than a year before the Supreme Court's celebrated privacy judgment.

As Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court, Justice Oka passed several judgments and orders related to Covid management. One such order led to Mr. Fali Nariman writing an article in the Indian Express “saluting the judges of the Karnataka High Court for their humanitarian approach”. Justice Oka also passed several verdicts checking executive excess. For instance, a bench presided over by him declared as illegal the curfew imposed by the Commissioner of Police in Bengaluru under Section 144 CrPC in the wake of anti-CAA protest gatherings. His judgment termed the fundamental right to peaceful protest a "basic feature of the Constitution".

A check on executive excess typified his tenure as a judge of the Supreme Court too. Most members of the bar will credit him for being the judge who brought the powers of the Enforcement Directorate into check. He also passed several important verdicts on issues related to free speech, the environment, rights of convicts etc.

Justice Oka spent less than 4 years on the bench of the Supreme Court. However, the impact of his tenure was more than that of judges who have had far longer terms. What made him stand out?

Some might say it was pure hard work. Justice Oka would regularly hear a board of over 75 matters, and would be thoroughly prepared in all of them. Others might say it was his discipline. Seldom, if ever, did his bench not assemble exactly at 10:30. Several others might even say that it was the directness and precision of his language. In an era where 500 page judgments are belted out to resolve relatively simple issues, Justice Oka's opinions were models of eloquent clarity and simplicity.

Few judges have done more to render exact, expeditious and impartial justice. Justice Oka's tenure had an indelible impact on the law as we know it, on advocates who appeared before him and most importantly, on the litigants who found succour in his orders.

He will not be with us when the Court convenes after the summer vacation and the Supreme Court will be poorer for it.

Reflecting on his retirement at a ceremonial function organized by the Advocates Association of Western India, Justice Oka said “I don't believe in the philosophy that if you retire you get freedom. I always believed that as a judge you get greatest freedom to do justice, which you will not get outside the judicial world.” He went on to say “I always believed that when you are a judge you should not do anything to make your presence felt. Your success will be counted if your absence if felt if you demit office.”

By that, and by any measure Justice Oka had a remarkably successful tenure as a judge. We now know that he is not looking forward to retirement, but as it inevitably beckons, I hope that he finds the time to slow down, the time to spend at the British Library or at the north stand of the Wankhede – two institutions that were by his own admission important parts of his time at the Government Law College in Bombay. Most of all, I hope that the courage and the conscience that he infused in his judgments protects our liberties for years to come.

The author is an Advocate practising in the Supreme Court. He can be reached at [email protected]